LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


GIFT    OF 


Class 


PAN  AMERICAN  UNION 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE 

PAN  AMERICAN 
COMMERCIAL 
CONFERENCE 

FEBRUARY  13-17,  1911 


JOHN  BARRETT,  Director  General 
FRANCISCO  J.:\:A,N;ESjaAsst.  Ditxior 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 


The  Pan  American  Union  is  in  no  way 
responsible  for  opinions  expressed,  state- 
ments made,  or  any  criticisms  that  appear 
in  the  papers  read  by  the  delegates  ::  :: 


As  it  was  sometimes  impossible  for  the 
Secretary  of  the  Conference  to  identify 
the  speakers  during  the  open  discussions, 
it  has  been  necessary  in  some  instances 
to  omit  names.  The  Editor  regrets  this 
unavoidable  incompleteness.  ::  ::  ::  :: 


THE    PAN   AMERICAN   UNION 


PAN  AMERICAN  UNION  (formerly 
known  as  the  "Bureau  of  American  Repub- 
lies")  is  an  international  organization  and 
office  maintained  by  the  twenty-one  American  repub- 
lics and  devoted  to  the  development  and  maintenance 
of  commerce,  friendly  intercourse,  and  good  under- 
standing among  them.  Its  affairs  are  administered  by 
a  Director  General  and  an  Assistant  Director,  elected 
by  and  responsible  to  a  Governing  Board,  composed 
of  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States  and  the 
Diplomatic  Representatives  in  Washington  of  the  other 
American  Governments.  Its  executive  officers  are  as- 
sisted by  a  staff  of  international  experts,  statisticians, 
commercial  specialists,  editors,  translators,  compilers, 
librarians  and  clerks.  The  Union  conducts  a  large  and 
varied  correspondence,  covering  every  phase  of  Pan 
American  relations ;  it  publishes  a  Monthly  Bulletin, 
which  is  a  record  of  Pan  American  progress;  it  has 
an  up-to-date  library  of  twenty  thousand  volumes 
relating  to  all  the  Americas;  and  it  is  permanently 
housed  in  a  building  erected  at  a  cost  of  nearly  a 
million  dollars  and  dedicated  exclusively  to  the  uses 
of  the  Pan  American  Union. 


231725 


NOTES  ON  THE  CONFERENCE  FOR 
GUIDANCE  OF  DELEGATES 


(a)  The  purpose  of  this  Pan  American  Commercial  Conference  is  to  consider, 
first,  the  actual,  practical,  business  conditions  surrounding  the  exchange  of  commerce 
and  development  of  trade  between  the  United  States  and  the  other  American  coun- 
tries; and,  second,  the  non-political  business  opportunities  and  advantages  which 
will  be  opened  to  Pan  American  commerce  by  the  Panama  Canal,  and  the  steps 
which  should  now  be  taken  by  the  business  interests  of  the  Americas  to  get  ready 
for  the  Canal  and  enable  them  to  gain  direct  benefits  following  its  opening.  The 
Union  is  an  official  organization  and  the  members  of  its  Governing  Board  assume 
no  responsibility  whatever  as  to  the  actions  and  discussions  of  the  Conference,  which 
is  purely  an  informative  and  educational  gathering,  called  by  the  Director  General 
for  the  purpose  given  above. 

(&)  The  principal  commercial  organizations,  the  leading  manufacturing, 
exporting,  and  importing  establishments  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  and  many 
educational  institutions,  have  been  asked  to  send  representatives  and  to  participate. 
The  Latin  American  Ambassadors  and  Ministers  in  Washington  and  their  consular 
officers  in  New  York  and  elsewhere  have  been  invited  to  attend  and  take  part  in 
the  discussions  on  behalf  of  their  countries.  The  best  commercial  experts  available, 
both  official  and  private,  have  accepted  invitations  to  discuss  in  detail  Pan  American 
commerce,  preparation  for  the  Panama  Canal,  and  those  practical  phases  of  export 
and  import  business  upon  which  information  is  desired. 

(c)  The  Conference  will  begin  its  sessions  at  3.15  P.  M.,  Monday,  February 
I3th,  when  addresses  will  be  delivered  by  President  Taft,  Secretary  Knox,  Latin 
American  Diplomatic  Representatives,   Senator  Root,   Speaker-elect   Champ  Clark, 
and  President  J.  A.  Farrell  of  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation. 

In  place  of  a  long  program  of  subjects  and  speakers-,  which  seems  tiresome 
and  never-ending  and  allows  no  participation  by  the  delegates  at  large,  each  session, 
beginning  Tuesday  morning,  will  be  open,  and  led  by  specially  designated  authorities 
and  experts,  and  continued  by  the  others  present.  In  the  evening  there  will  be 
illustrated  lectures  on  Latin  America  by  well-known  travelers,  which  will  prove 
interesting  and  instructive. 

(d)  The  Pan  American  Union  building  is  located  at  the  corner  of  I7th  and 
B  streets,  Northwest,  at  the  entrance  to  Potomac  Park,  about  four  blocks  southwest 
of  the  White  House  and  the  State,  War  and  Navy  building,  and  ten  minutes'  walk 
from  the  principal  hotels.    Mail  for  those  attending,  if  desired,  can  be  sent  "care  Pan 
American  Union,  Washington,  D.  C." 

(e)  If  further  information  is  desired,  it  can  be  obtained  by  asking  members 
of  the  Reception  Committee  of  the  staff  of  the  Pan  American  Union,  who  wear  a 
distinguishing  red  badge,  including  Franklin  Adams,   Chief  Clerk;   W.   C.  Wells, 
W.  P.  Montgomery,  Dr.  Albert  Hale,  E.  M.  Amores,  Julian  M.  Lacalle,  G.  R.  Fortescue, 
C.  E.  Babcock,  W.  V.  Griffin,  Otto  Hollender,  W.  J.  Kolb,  C.  H.  Baker,  H.  O.  Sand- 
berg,  H.  E.  Mitchell,  J.  O.  Kerbey,  J.  L.  Martin. 


REGULATIONS  GOVERNING  THE  SESSIONS 
OF  THE  CONFERENCE 

1.  The  meetings  of  the  Conference  will  be  held  in  the  large  room  of  the  Pan 
American  building,  known  as  "The  Hall  of  the  Americas."    Following  the  first 
session  on  Monday  afternoon  at  3.15,  there  will  be  an  illustrated  lecture  on  Latin 
America  that  night  at  8  o'clock;  and  then  morning,  afternoon  and  evening  sessions 
for  Tuesday,  the  I4th,  Wednesday,  the  isth,  Thursday,  the  i6th;  and  Friday,  the 
I7th,  if  the  program  has  not  already  been  completed.    There  will  be  illustrated 
lectures  Tuesday  and  Wednesday  evenings. 

2.  Morning  sessions  will  begin  promptly  at  9.30  and  end  at  12.30;  those  in 
the  afternoon  will  begin  at  2  and  end  at  5.30;  those  in  the  evening  will  begin  at  8 
and  close  at  10. 

3.  The  Conference,  being  called  up6n  invitation  of  the  executive  officer  of  the 
Pan  American  Union,  will  have  no  organization  beyond  that  of  the  presiding  officer 
designated  by  him. 

4.  Addresses  will  be  limited  to  10  minutes  each  to  the  person  leading  the 
discussion.    Remarks  of  others  amplifying  the  discussion  will  be  limited  to  five  min- 
utes each. 

5.  Following  each  principal  address,  questions  may  be  generally  asked,  to  be 
answered  by  those  ready  or  competent  to  do  so. 

6.  It  will  not  be  permitted  to  introduce,  discuss,  or  pass  any  resolutions 
affecting  the  attitude  or  policies  of  governments.    Adverse  comment  also  upon  gov- 
ernments forming  the  Union  will  be  out  of  order. 

7.  During  the  Conference  the  Pan  American  building  will  be  open  only  to 
specially  invited  guests,  delegates,  those  participating  in  the  program  of  the  Confer- 
ence, and  to  others  having  official  business. 

8.  All   delegates  or  representatives  are  requested  to   register  their  names, 
their  firms,  and  their  addresses  upon  their  first  arrival  at  the  Pan  American  building, 
at  the  place  specially  desigated  on  the  first  floor. 


The  Notes  on  the  conference  and  Regulations 
governing  the  sessions  are  Reproduced  from 
the  Original  Program. 


OFFICIALS,  AUTHORITIES  AND  EXPERTS 

Alphabetical  list  of  officials,  authorities  and  experts  who  led  the  discussions 
of  the  Conference  and  delivered  special  addresses: 

AUAMS,  FRANKLIN,  Chief  Clerk  and  Editor  of  The  Bulletin  of  the  Pan  American 
Union. 

ADAMS,  MRS.  HARRIET  CHALMERS,  Lecturer  on  Latin  America. 

ARLZAGA,  DR.  RAFAEL  M.,  Minister  of  Ecuador. 

ARMAS,  AURELIO  DE,  of  Havana,  Cuba,  Expert  on  Cuban  trade  marks. 

AUSTIN,  O.  P.,  Chief  of  Bureau  of  Statistics,  State  Department. 

BAKER,  BERNARD  N.,  of  Baltimore,  Md.,  Expert  on  Shipping  and  the  Panama  Canal. 

BALDWIN,  A.  H.,  Chief  of  Bureau  of  Manufactures,  Dept.  of  Commerce  and  Labor. 

BARRANCO,  CESAR  A.,  Vice  Consul  of  Cuba,  in  Washington. 

BARTLETT,  DUDLEY,  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum. 

BENGOECHEA,  DR.  RAMON,  Charge  d'Affaires  of  Guatemala. 

BENNEY,  W.  M.,  Secretary  of  the  National  Association  of  Manufacturers. 

BINGHAM,  PROF.  HIRAM,  of  Yale  University,  Specialist  on  Latin  America. 

BORDA,  FRANCISCO  DE  P.,  Minister  of  Colombia. 

BROWNELL,  ATHERTON,  of  the  Brazilian  Propaganda,  Expert  on  Brazil. 

BUNKER,  W.    M.,   of  the   San   Francisco  Chamber   of  Commerce,   Expert   on  the 
Panama  Canal. 

BUTMAN,  A.  B.,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  Expert  on  market  for  boots  and  shoes  in  Latin 
America. 

CALDERON,  IGNACIO,  Minister  of  Bolivia. 

CALVO,  JOAQUIN  B.,  Minister  of  Costa  Rica. 

CARRENO,  ALBERTO  M.,  Secretary  of  Mexican  Special  Embassy  to  the  United  States. 

CASASUS,  JOAQUIN  D.,  Former  Ambassador  of  Mexico. 

CASTRILLO,  DR.  SALVADOR,  Minister  of  Nicaragua. 

CASTRO,  DR.  ALFREDO  DE,  Charge  d'Affaires  of  Uruguay. 

CHANDLER,  CHARLES  >L.,  U.  S.  Vice  Consul-General,  Buenos  Aires,  Argentina. 

CLARK,  CHAMP,  Speaker-elect  of  House  of  Representatives. 

CURRIER,  REV.  CHARLES  WARREN,  Expert  on  Education  in  Latin  America. 

CURT,  Louis  S.,  of  the  Chicago  Association  of  Commerce,  Expert  on  Latin  America. 

CURTIS,  WILLIAM   E.,   Correspondent   and   Publicist,   former   Director   of  the   Pan 
American  Union. 

DANIELS,  LORENZO,  Lamport  &  Holt  S.  S.  Line,  Expert  on  Shipping. 

DARLING,  J.  R.,  Expert  on  Central  America  and  West  Coast  of  South  America. 

DAVIS,  MACK  H.,  of  Bureau  of  Trade  Relations,  State  Department. 

DAVIS,  GEN.  GEO.  W.,  Former  Governor  of  Panama. 

DEEDS,  EDWARD  A.,  of  the  National  Cash  Register  Company. 

DICKINSON,  WILLIAM  M.,  of  the  Otis  Elevator  Co.,  Expert  on  Latin  America. 

DONALDSON,  C.  R.,  of  the  Bureau  of  Manufactures,  Dept.  of  Commerce  and  Labor. 

DOWNS,  WILLIAM  C.,  of  Wessels,  Kulemkampff  Co.,  General  Expert  on  Pan  Ameri- 
can Trade. 

EDER,  PHANOR  J.,  Expert  on  Colombia. 

ENRIGHT,  F.  C.,  of  the  Chicago  Association  of  Commerce,  Expert  on  Argentina. 

FARQUHAR,  A.  B.,  General  Expert  on  Commerce. 

FARRELL,  J.  A.,  Pres.  of  the  U.  S.  Steel  Corporation. 

FORTESCUE,  CAPT.  G.  R.,  of  the  Pan  American  Union  Staff. 

FOWLER,  JOHN  F.,  of  W.  R.  Grace  &  Co.,  Expert  on  Export  and  Import  Trade. 

FURLONG,  CHARLES  WELLINGTON,  of  Watertown,  Mass.,   General  Expert  on  Latin 

GARCIA,  REAR  ADMIRAL  M.  DOMECQ,  of  the  Argentine  Navy. 

GORHAM,  REGINALD,  of  the  Electro  Dental  Manufacturing  Co.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

GRAVES,  JOHN  TEMPLE,  Orator  and  Author. 

GREEN,  C.  A.,  of  R.  G.  Dun  &  Co.,  Expert  on  Credits. 

GREEN,  ALFREDO  METZ,  Consul  of  Uruguay,  in  New  York. 

GUERRA,  DR.  A.  DIAZ,  of  Sharp  &  Dohme,  Baltimore,  Md. 

HALE,  DR.  ALBERT,  of  the  Pan  American  Union  Staff. 

HAZLETT,  D.  M.,  of  Latin-American  and  Foreign  Trade  Association,  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
Lecturer  and  Expert  on  Brazil. 

JANES,  HENRY  L.,  Asst.  Chief,  Division  of  Latin  American  Affairs,  State  Department. 

JOUBERT,  EMILIO  C,  Minister  of  the  Dominican  Republic. 

8 


JOHNSTON,  FRANKLIN,  Editor  of  American  Exporter,  Expert  on  Pan  American  Trade. 

KAHN,  JULIUS,  Member  of  Congress  from  California. 

KELEHER,  A.  H,,  of  the  Holophane  Glass  Co.,  Expert  on  Uruguay. 

KIMBALL,  L.  A.,  of  the  Simmonds  Manufacturing  Co.,  Pan  American  Trade  Expert. 

KIN  SOLVING,  RT.  REV.  LUCIEN  LEE,  of  the  Brazilian  Episcopal  Church. 

KNOX,  PHILANDER  C,  Secretary  of  State  of  United  States. 

LA  LANNE,  FRANK  D.,  President  of  National  Board  of  Trade. 

LAY,  JULIUS  G.,  U.  S.  Consul  General,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Brazil. 

LEAO,  FRANCISCO  GARCIA  PEREIRA,  Brazilian  Vice  Consul,  New  York. 

LEWIS,  HARRISON  C.,  of  the  National  Paper  and  Type  Co.,  Expert  on  Newspapers  and 
Advertising. 

LINDSAY,  FORBES.,  Lecturer  and  Expert  on  Panama. 

LOOMIS.,  FRANCIS  B.,  Former  Assistant  Secretary  of  State. 

MANNING,  ISAAC  A.,  U.  S.  Consul  at  La  Guaira,  Venezuela. 

MAYO,  CASWELL,  Editor  of  Revista  Americana  de  F armada  y  Medicina,  Expert  on 
Pan  American  Drug  Trade. 

MARCAL,  JOSE,  of  the  Jornal  do  Brasil,  Expert  on  Brazil. 

MONCADA,  GUILLERMO,  Consul  General  of  Honduras,  New  York. 

MILES,  BASIL,  Postoffice  Department,  Expert  on  Parcels  Post. 

MOREIRA,  M.  DE,  Editor  of  Foreign  Trade,  Expert  on  Brazil. 

MONTGOMERY,  W.  B.,  of  the  Pan  American  Union  Staff. 

MYERS,  WILLIAM  S.,  of  the  Nitrate  Propaganda  Co.,  Expert  on  Nitrates. 

NEWELL,  F.  H.,  of  the  U.  S.  Reclamation  Service. 

NIXON,  LEWIS,  United  States  Delegate  to  Fourth  Pan  American  Conference,  Expert 
on  Shipping. 

NOEL,  JOHN  VAVASOUR,  Editor  of  Peru  Today,  of  Lima,  Peru. 

OSBORNE,  JOHN  B.,  Chief,  Bureau  of  Trade  Relations,  State  Department. 

PARDO,  FELIPE,  Minister  of  Peru. 

PEPPER,  CHAS.  M.,  of  the  Bureau  of  Trade  Relations,  State  Department. 

PORCH,  JAMES  W.,  of  New  Orleans,  Expert  on  Panama  Canal. 

PORRAS,  DR.  BELISARIO,  Minister  of  Panama. 

PURDIE,  FRANCIS  B.,  of  R.  G.  Dun  &  Co.,  Expert  on  Credits. 

RAPOSO,  Louis,  Press  Correspondent,  Expert  on  Advertising. 

RICCI,  Louis,  of  the  Barber  Asphalt  Paving  Co.,  Expert  on  Pan  American  Trade. 

RICHLING,  JOSE,  Consul  General  of  Uruguay,  in  New  York. 

ROBINSON,  A.  G.,  Special  Correspondent  of  the  New  York  Sun,  Expert  on  Cuba. 

ROJAS,  DR.  P.  EZEQUIEL,  Minister  of  Venezuela. 

ROMERO,  CAYETANO,  Mexican  Consul  General,  in  New  York. 

ROOT,  SENATOR  ELIHU,  Member  of  U.  S.  Senate  from  New  York. 

ROWE,  DR.  L.  S.,  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Delegate  to  the  Third  Pan 
American  Conference. 

RUTTER,  DR.  FRANK  R.,  of  the  Bureau  of  Manufactures,  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor. 

SANNON,  H.  PAULEUS,  Minister  of  Haiti. 

SANTAMARINA,  J.  P.,  of  Buenos  Ayres,  Special  Correspondent  of  La  Razon. 

SEGOVIA,  D.  M.,  of  Paraguay. 

SHEPHERD,  PROF.  W.  R...  Secretary  U.  S.  Delegation,  Fourth  Pan  American  Confer- 
ence. 

STUTESMAN,  J.  F.,  Former  U.  S.  Minister  to  Bolivia. 

TAFT,  WILLIAM  HOWARD,  President  of  the  United  States. 

THOMSON,  A.  J.,  General  Pan  American  Trade  Expert. 

TRAZIVUK,  MARCOS  J.,  of  the  Ward  S.  S.  Line,  Expert  on  Packing. 

VILLEGAS,  JACINTO  L.,  Charge  d'Affaires  of  Argentina. 

WELLS,  W.  C.,  of  Pan  American  Union  Staff. 

WHITE,  HENRY,  Chairman  of  U.  S.  Delegation  at  Fourth  Pan  American  Confei 

WALTON,  CLIFFORD  S.,  Consul  General  of  Paraguay  in  Washington. 

WIBORG,  FRANK,  General  Pan  American  Authority. 

WILSON,  HUNTINGTON,  Assistant  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  btates. 

WILSON,  DR.  W.  P.,  Director  of  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum. 

YOACHAM,  ALBERTO,  Charge  d'Affaires  of  Chile.  . 

YANES,  FRANCISCO  J.,  Assistant  Director  of  the  Pan  American  Union. 

YOUNGMAN,  E.  H.,  Editor  of  Bankers'  Magazine. 


SPEAKERS  AT 
PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE 

OPENING  SESSION 

MONDAY  AFTERNOON,  FEBRUARY  13,  1911 

The  President  of  the  United  States. 

Hon.  Philander  C.  Knox,  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States. 
s  Hon.  Joaquin  B.  Calvo,  Minister  of  Costa  Rica. 
Hon.  Ignacio  Calderon,  Minister  of  Bolivia. 
Hon.  Joaquin  D.  Casasus,  Former  Ambassador  of  Mexico. 
Hon.  Champ  Clark,  Speaker-elect  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
Mr.  James  A.  Farrell,  president  of  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation. 

The  opening  session  began  at  3.30  o'clock,  the  speakers  being  introduced  by 
the  Director  General  of  the  Pan  American  Union,  Mr.  John  Barrett. 

MONDAY,  8  P.  M. 

Dr.  Alberto  Carreno,  Secretary  of  Mexican  Special  Embassy  to  the  United 
States,  delivered  an  address  upon  Mexico. 

Dr.  Albert  Hale,  of  the  Pan  American  Union  Staff,  gave  an  illustrated  travel 
talk  on  Latin  America. 

TUESDAY,  FEBRUARY  14 
Morning,  9.55-12.35         Afternoon,  2.15-5.00 

Tuesday's  sessions  included  a  general  discussion  of  the  Pan  American  field : 
Argentina,  Brazil,  Bolivia,  Chile,  Colombia,  Costa  Rica,  Cuba,  Dominican  Republic, 
Ecuador,  Guatemala,  Haiti,  Honduras,  Mexico,  Nicaragua,  Panama,  Paraguay,  Peru, 
Salvador,  Uruguay,  Venezuela  and  the  United  States. 

The  discussions  were  led  by  the  diplomatic  representatives  of  Latin  America 
in  Washington,  and  other  governmental  authorities  and  trade  experts,  including: 

Felipe  Pardo,  Minister  of  Peru. 

H.  Pauleus  Sannon,  Minister  of  Haiti,  paper  read  by  Capt.  G.  R.  Fortescue, 
of  the  Pan  American  Union  staff. 

Doctor  Don  Rafael  M.  Arizaga,  Minister  of  Ecuador. 

Dr.  Salvador  Castrillo,  Minister  of  Nicaragua,  paper  read  by  J.  M.  Lacalle 
of  the  Pan  American  Union  staff. 

Jacinto  L.  Villegas,  Charge  d'Affaires  of  Argentina,  paper  read  by  Dr.  Albert 
Hale  of  the  Pan  American  Union  staff. 

Dr.  P.  Ezequiel  Rojas,  Minister  of  Venezuela,  paper  read  by  Assistant  Director 
of  the  Pan  American  Union,  Francisco  J.  Yanes. 

Isaac  A.  Manning,  U.  S.  Consul  at  La  Guaira,  Venezuela. 

J.  P.  Santamarina  of  Buenos  Aires,  special  correspondent  of  La  Rason. 

Lewis  Nixon,  delegate  of  the  United  States  to  the  Fourth  Pan  American 
Conference  at  Buenos  Aires. 

Lorenzo  Daniels,  of  the  Lamport  &  Holt  S.  S.  Line,  expert  on  shipping. 

A.  G.  Robinson,  special  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Sun,  expert  on  Cuba. 

Others  who  participated  in  the  discussions  included  Franklin  Adams,  Chief 
Clerk  and  Editor  of  The  Bulletin  of  the  Pan  American  Union ;  Capt.  G.  R.  Fortescue, 
W.  C.  Wells,  Dr.  Albert  Hale  and  W.  B.  Montgomery  of  the  Pan  American  Union 
staff;  S.  Krausz,  S.  Gumpert,  Francis  B.  Purdie,  Forbes  Lindsay,  P.  B.  Clark,  Frank 
D.  La  Lanne,  Mr.  Easton,  Edward  A.  Deeds,  Joseph  H.  Appel,  H.  P.  Stratton, 
Phanor  J.  Eder,  T.  C.  Clifford,  Louis  Raposo,  John  Vavasour  Noel,  Reginald  Gor- 
ham,  C.  L.  Coffin,  F.  C.  Enright,  D.  Lindemay,  J.  E.  Barbosa,  A.  H.  Keleher,  H.  F. 
Temple,  Paul  R.  Mahony,  J.  D.  Massey,  J.  N.  Kise,  William  S.  Cox. 

TUESDAY,  5.15  P.  M. 

The  delegates  were  given  a  reception  by  the  Commercial  Club  of  Washington, 
at  21  Lafayette  Square. 

TUESDAY,  8  P.  M. 

Mrs.  Harriet  Chalmers  Adams,  the  distinguished  woman  traveler,  gave  an 
illustrated  lecture  on  Latin  America. 

10 


WEDNESDAY,  FEBRUARY  15 
Morning,  9.50-12.30        Afternoon,  2.35-5.45 

Wednesday's  discussions  were  devoted  principally  to  special  features  of  Pan 
American  commerce  and  the  Panama  Canal.  The  speakers  included: 

Dr.  Belisario  Porras,  Minister  of  Panama;  paper  read  by  Dr.  Albert  Hale  cf 
the  Pan  American  Union  staff. 

Francisco  de  P.  Borda,  Minister  of  Colombia,  paper  read  by  Phanor  J.  Eder. 

Alfredo  De  Castro,  Charge  d'Affaires  of  Uruguay. 

Huntington  Wilson,  Assistant  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States. 

Francisco  Garcia  Pereira  Leao,  Brazilian  Vice  Consul,  New  York. 

John  B.  Osborne,  Chief  of  Bureau  of  Trade  Relations,  State  Department. 

Prof.  W.  R.  Shepherd,  Columbia  University,  Secretary  U.  S.  delegation  to 
Fourth  Pan  American  Conference. 

Bernard  N.  Baker,  of  Baltimore,  authority  on  shipping. 

Franklin  Johnston,  editor  of  American  Exporter,  New  York. 

Rt.  Rev.  Lucien  Lee  Kinsolving,  of  the  Brazilian  Episcopal  Church. 

Louis  Raposo,  Press  Correspondent,  expert  on  Brazil. 

Atherton  Brownell,  of  Brazilian  Propaganda,  expert  on  Brazil. 

M.  De  Moreira,  editor  of  Foreign  Trade,  expert  on  Brazil. 

Jose  Richling,  Consul-General  of  Uruguay,  New  York. 

Alfredo  Metz  Green,  Consul  of  Uruguay,  New  York. 

Francis  B.  Loomis,  former  Assistant  Secretary  of  State. 

Cesar  A.  Barranco,  Vice  Consul  of  Cuba  in  Washington. 

Those  who  participated  in  the  discussions  were  D.  Lindemay,  Charles  A. 
Pope,  Isaac  A.  Manning,  John  A.  Olt,  L.  A.  Kimball,  A.  H.  Keleher,  C.  L.  Coffin, 
Philip  J.  Forbes,  P.  R.  Clark,  S.  Krausz,  Forbes  Lindsay,  Leonard  S.  Smith,  Alberto 
Yoacham,  Charge  d'Affaires  of  Chile;  Marsh  Parsons,  Mr.  Anderson,  George  L. 
King,  John  Vavasour  Noel,  Louis  S.  Curt,  Charles  E.  Hildreth,  Jose  McMenendez, 
J.  P.  Santamarina,  Dr.  A.  Diaz  Guerra,  Caswell  A.  Mayo,  Phanor  J.  Eder,  E.  F. 
Wickwire,  Frank  X.  Kreitler,  Mahlon  C.  Martin,  Jr.,  S.  Gumpert,  Charles  L. 
Chandler,  J.  D.  Massey,  Paul  R.  Mahony,  John  K.  Broderick,  Dr.  Albert  Hale. 

WEDNESDAY,  1  P.  M. 

The  delegates  were  given  a  luncheon  at  the  New  Ebbitt  House  by  the  Wash- 
ington Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Board  of  Trade. 

The  Hon.  Henry  B.  F.  Macfarland,  former  president  of  the  Board  of  Com- 
missioners of  the  District  of  Columbia,  delivered  an  address  of  welcome  at  the 
luncheon. 

WEDNESDAY,  8  P.  M. 

D.  M.  Hazlett,  of  the  Latin  American  and  Foreign  Trade  Association,  St. 
Louis,  delivered  an  illustrated  lecture  upon  Brazil,  filling  the  place  of  Prof.  Hiram 
Bingham,  of  Yale  University,  who  was  to  have  lectured  Wednesday  evening,  but 
was  taken  suddenly  ill. 

THURSDAY,  FEBRUARY  16 
Morning,  9.35-12.35         Afternoon,  2.30-5.00 

Thursday's  sessions  were  devoted  to  a  continuation  of  the  discussion  of  Pan 
American  commerce  and  the  Panama  Canal.  The  speakers  were: 

Julius  G.  Lay,  U.  S.  Consul  General  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Brazil. 

A.  H.  Baldwin,  Chief  of  Bureau  of  Manufactures,  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor. 

C.  R.  Donaldson,  Bureau  of  Manufactures,  Department  of  Commerce  and 
Labor. 

Charles  M.  Pepper,  Bureau  of  Trade  Relations,  State  Department. 

Alberto  Yoacham,  Charge  d'Affaires  of  Chile. 

Henry  L.  Janes,  Division  of  Latin  American  Affairs,  State  Department. 

Francisco  J.  Yanes,  Assistant  Director  of  the  Pan  American  Union. 

J.  P.  Santamarina,  special  correspondent  of  La  Rason,  Buenos  Aires. 

ii 


Charles  L.  Chandler,  U.  S.  Vice-Consul  General,  Buenos  Aires. 

W.  A.  Graham  Clark,  expert  to  Tariff  Board  on  Latin-American  market  for 
textiles. 

Dr.  W.  P.  Wilson,  Director  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum. 

C.  A.  Green,  of  R.  G.  Dun  &  Co.,  expert  on  credits. 

James  W.  Porch,  of  New  Orleans,  expert  on  the  Panama  Canal. 

John  F.  Fowler,  of  W.  R.  Grace  &  Co.,  expert  on  export  and  import  trade. 

William  M.  Bunker,  Chamber  of  Commerce,  of  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  expert 
on  the  Panama  Canal: 

Marcos  J.  Trazivuk,  of  the  Ward  S.  S.  Line,  expert  on  packing. 

F.  C.  Enright,  of  the  Chicago  Association  of  Commerce. 

A.  H.  Keleher,  of  the  Holophane  Glass  Co.,  expert  on  Uruguay. 

Dudley  Bartlett,  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum. 

Rt.  Rev.  Lucien  Lee  Kinsolving,  of  the  Brazilian  Episcopal  Church. 

O.  P.  Austin,  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor. 

Others  who  took  part  in  the  discussions  included  D.  Lindemay,  C.  L.  Coffin, 
John  Vavasour  Noel,  Francis  J.  Lowe,  Jose  McMenendez,  Forbes  Lindsay,  Charles 
J.  Marsh,  W.  J.  H.  Nourse,  Isaac  A.  Manning,  W.  C.  Wells  of  the  Pan  American 
Union  staff;  Dr.  Frank  R.  Rutter,  of  the  Bureau  of  Manufactures,  Department  of 
Commerce  and  Labor;  E.  F.  Wickwire,  P.  N.  Hyde,  Harrison  C.  Lewis,  Joseph  F. 
Gray,  Charles  H.  Dankmeyer,  A.  B.  Farquhar,  S.  Gumpert,  S.  Krausz,  Francis  B. 
Purdie,  Reginald  Gorham,  Pierce  G.  Williams,  Mr.  Blood,  J.  F.  Fowler,  William 
T.  West,  E.  Feige. 

THURSDAY,  8  P.  M. 

Miss  Annie  S.  Peck,  the  distinguished  woman  mountain-climber,  gave  an 
illustrated  lecture  upon  Peru  and  Bolivia. 

FRIDAY,  FEBRUARY  17 
Morning,  9.45-12.40         Afternoon,  2.15-6.00 

During  the  sessions  of  Friday,  the  last  day,  many  delegates,  who  had  not 
previously  been  heard,  spoke  on  various  phases  of  Pan  American  commerce  and 
comity.  The  speakers  included  : 

Senator  Elihu  Root,  of  New  York,  who  was  introduced  as  having  done  more 
to  develop  Pan  American  commerce  and  comity  than  any  other  man. 

Dr.  L.  S.  Rowe,  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  and  delegate  to  the  Third 
Pan  American  Conference. 

Henry  White,  Chairman  of  the  United  States  Delegation  to  the  Fourth  Pan 
American  Conference. 

William  C.  Downs,  of  Boston,  General  Expert  on  Pan  American  Trade. 

Rear  Admiral  M.  Domecq  Garcia,  of  the  Argentine  Navy. 

Dr.  Frank  L.  Rutter,  of  the  Bureau  of  Manufactures,  Department  of  Com- 
merce and  Labor. 

Francis  B.  Purdie,  of  R.  G.  Dun  &  Co.,  expert  on  credits. 

Charles  L.  Chandler,  United  States  Vice  Consul  General  at  Buenos  Aires. 

W.  S.  Peters,  of  Kansas  City. 

Caswell  A.  Mayo,  editor  of  Reznsta  Americano  dc  Farmacia  y  Medicina. 

Harrison  C.  Lewis,  of  the  National  Paper  &  Type  Co.,  expert  on  advertising. 

Forbes  Lindsay,  lecturer,  author  and  expert  on  Panama. 

F.  H.  Newell,  of  the  United  States  Reclamation  Service. 

E.  H.  Ypungman,  editor  of  Bankers'  Magazine. 

Basil  Miles,  of  the  Postoffice  Department,  expert  on  parcels  post. 

Rev.  Charles  Warren  Currier,  expert  on  schools  in  Brazil. 

William  E.  Curtis,  correspondent  and  publicist,  former  Director  of  the  Pan 
American  Union. 

Gen.  George  W.  Davis,  former  Governor  of  Panama. 

Isaac  A.  Manning,  U.  S.  Consul  at  La  Guaira,  Venezuela. 

Dudley  Bartlett,  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum. 

Edward  A.  Deeds,  of  the  National  Cash  Register  Co. 

12 


J.  F.   Statesman,  former  U.  S.   Minister  to  Bolivia. 

Aurelio  De  Armas,  of  Havana,  Cuba,  expert  on  Cuba. 

A.  J.  Thomson,  General  Pan  American  trade  expert. 

Louis  D.  Ricci,  of  the  Barber  Asphalt  Paving  Co.,  expert  on  Pan  American 
trade. 

W.  M.  Benney,  secretary  of  the  National  Association  of  Manufacturers. 

D.  M.  Segovia,  of  Paraguay. 

W.  C.  Wells,  of  the  Pan  American  Union  staff. 

Franklin  Adams,  Chief  Clerk  of  the  Pan  American  Union. 

Dr.  Albert  Hale,  of  the  Pan  American  Union  staff. 

Capt.  G.  R.  Fortescue,  of  the  Pan  American  Union  staff. 

W.  B.  Montgomery,  of  the  Pan  American  Union  staff. 

John  Vavasour  Noel,  editor  of  Peru  Today,  of  Lima,  Peru. 

Louis  S.  Curt,  expert  on  Latin  America. 

William  M.  Dickinson,  of  the  Otis  Elevator  Co.,  expert  on  Latin-America. 

Julius  Kahn,  member  of  Congress  from  California. 

John  Temple  Graves,  orator  and  author. 

Those  who  participated  in  the  discussions  included  Dr.  William  O.  McDowell, 
F.  C.  Enright,  S.  Gumpert,  P.  N.  Hyde,  Jay  C.  Freeman,  H.  H.  Haines,  Reginald 
Gorham,  Harrison  C.  Lewis,  A.  H.  Keleher,  Herbert  M.  Davison,  S.  Krausz,  J.  F. 
Fowler,  Belva  A.  Lockwood,  Annie  S.  Peck,  Mr.  Lowe,  John  A.  Olt. 


SPEECHES  AT  OPENING  SESSION 

THE  ADDRESS  OF   WELCOME   BY    THE    DIRECTOR 
GENERAL  OF  THE  PAN  AMERICAN  UNION, 
MR.  JOHN  BARRETT. 

Mr.  President,  Mr.  Secretary,  and  Members  of  the  Diplomatic  Corps,  Ladies  and 
Gentlemen: 

In  welcoming  you  here  this  afternoon  in  my  capacity  as  executive  officer  of 
the  Pan  American  Union  I  shall  take  up  only  a  moment  of  your  time. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  point  out  in  detail  the  objects  of  this  meeting;  they 
were  fully  explained  in  the  invitation  which  most  of  you  have  seen  or  received. 

In  general  terms,  it  can  be  said  that  this  Conference  was  prompted  by  the 
overwhelming  correspondence  which  has  been  pouring  into  this  office  during  the 
past  year  asking  for  information  about  an  extraordinary  variety  of  matters  regard- 
ing the  conditions  and  possibilities  of  trade  between  the  United  States  and  the  twenty 
Latin  American  Republics. 

The  work  of  this  institution  has  quadrupled  during  the  last  few  years,  until 
now  it  has  become  a  practical  clearing  house,  as  it  were,  for  the  exchange  of  useful 
data  concerning  all  the  American  nations. 

It  seemed  wise,  therefore,  to  concentrate  efforts  to  get  into  closer  touch  with 
the  situation  by  inviting  here,  on  the  one  hand,  manufacturers,  exporters  and  im- 
porters, and  others  desiring  information,  and,  on  the  other,  those  officials,  authorities 
and  commercial  experts  familiar  with  Pan  American  trade,  to  exchange  views  and 
opinions,  to  ask  and  answer  questions,  and  engage  in  such  appropriate  discussions 
as  would  greatly  help  the  growing  movement  to  build  up  Pan  American  commerce 
and  comity  and  to  get  ready  for  the  Panama  Canal,  which  is  nearing  completion 
and  means  as  much  for  South  America  as  it  does  for  North  America. 

Particularly  is  it  desirable  that  the  exchange  of  trade  should  be  carefully  con- 
sidered— the  buying  from,  as  well  as  the  selling  to,  Latin  America — for  only  in  that 
way  can  a  permanently  prosperous  and  mutually  beneficial  commerce  be  maintained 
between  the  American  countries. 

The  cordial  response  to  the  invitation  to  participate  in  this  Conference  which 
has  come  from  all  sections  and  from  all  classes  of  men  interested  is  most  gratifying, 
and  this  afternoon  our  records  show  that  twelve  commercial  clubs,  twenty-five  boards 
of  trade,  thirty-two  chambers  of  commerce,  and  forty-two  other  trade  bodies,  together 
with  approximately  five  hundred  and  thirty-one  manufacturing,  exporting  and  import- 
ing firms,  and  no  small  number  of  individuals  or  delegates,  have  expressed  a  desire 
to  attend  the  Conference. 

Hundreds  of  others,  unable  to  be  represented,  have  sent  words  of  hearty 
approval  and  asked  that  copies  of  reports  of  the  Conference  be  forwarded  to  them. 

I  am  grateful  for  the  participation  of  the  President,  the  Secretary  of  State — 
who  is  also  Chairman  of  the  Governing  Board  of  the  Pan  American  Union — the 
Latin  American  Diplomatic  Representatives,  who  also  belong  to  its  Governing  Board, 
and  the  other  distinguished  guests  who  are  here  today  or  will  take  part  on  other 
days. 

14 


OJO 

<  .s 


ADDRESS  OF  THE  SECRETARY  OF  STATE  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES  HON.  PHILANDER  C.  KNOX 

Director  General  Barrett  then  introduced  Hon.  Philander  C.  Knox, 
Secretary  of  State  and  Chairman  of  the  Governing  Board  of  the  Pan 
American  Union. 

Secretary  KNOX  said : 

Gentlemen:  You  have  met  at  an  important  stage  in  the  evolution  of  the 
industrial  and  commercial  relations  of  the  Republics  of  the  Western  Hemisphere. 
The  significance  of  this  Congress  can  hardly  be  overestimated.  ^  It  meets  for  the 
discussion  of  practical  subjects,  for  the  dissemination  of  information,  for  the  inter- 
change of  ideas  in  regard  to  the  exchange  of  trade. 

It  is  fitting  that  the  Pan  American  Conferences,  which  are  now  held  at  regular 
intervals,  should  be  followed  by  commercial  Pan  American  Congresses  such  as  this 
one,  which  supplements  the  broad  general  work  of  those  gatherings  in  establishing 
closer  relations  and  promoting  the  principles  of  peace  among  the  different  countries. 
It  conserves  and  fructifies  the  resolutions  and  recommendations  of  those  Conferences, 
and  it  opens  the  channels  for  putting  into  effect  the  principles  they  lay  down.  The 
approach  of  the  Americas  was  the  aspiration  voiced  by  that  illustrious  statesman  and 
publicist,  the  late  JOAQUIN  NABUCO,  who,  as  Ambassador  of  the  Brazilian  Republic, 
participated  in  so  many  movements  for  the  improvement  of  the  relations  of  all  the 
countries  of  this  hemisphere.  His  services  to  mutual  peace  and  good  will,  and  to 
that  closer  commercial  intercourse  which  is  at  once  the  harbinger  and  the  advocate 
of  such  good  will,  will  long  be  remembered.  Speaking  from  his  position  as  the 
representative  of  a  great  southern  Republic,  he  once  told  us  of  the  good  that  Latin 
America  would  derive  from  closer  intercourse  with  the  United  States.  He  also  told 
us  that  the  benefit  which  we  of  the  United  States  would  derive  from  that  intercourse 
at  first  would  be  only  the  good  that  comes  from  making  friends.  We  were  satisfied 
with  that  good,  but  already  we  see  how  it  also  leads  to  and  embraces  the  sphere  of 
trade  interests. 

The  educational  value  of  gatherings  such  as  this,  where  commercial  expansion 
may  be  discussed  in  all  its  aspects,  is  very  great.  Let  me  candidly  confess  that  in 
the  past  we  have  been  too  ignorant  of  our  southern  neighbors,  their  vast  undeveloped 
resources,  and  the  measures  they  have  been  taking  to  open  themselves  to  the  world. 

Happily  that  ignorance  is  disappearing.  The  mists  began  to  clear  away  when 
in  1889  JAMES  G.  ELAINE  seriously  initiated  a  Pan  American  commercial  policy. 
They  were  further  dissipated  when  my  distinguished  predecessor  made  his  memor- 
able trip  around  South  America.  The  cordiality  of  the  welcome  given  him  by  our 
neighbors  to  the  south  is  yet  fresh  in  our  memories.  This  journey,  supplemented 
by  subsequent  visits  on  his  part  to  other  Latin  American  countries,  promoted  a  better 
understanding  on  their  part  of  our  commercial  aims  and  expectations.  It  had  even 
a  greater  influence  on  the  people  of  the  United  States  in  educating  them  in  regard 
to  Latin  America,  its  institutions,  the  policies  of  its  statesmen,  and  the  opportunities 
for  the  investment  of  capital  and  the  promotion  of  general  trade. 
.  The  moral  forces  of  commerce,  the  pacific  influence  of  trade,  should  be  the 

foundation  of  the  commercial  policy  of  the  representatives  of  the  Western  Hem- 
isphere. The  energies  of  production  and  consumption  can  not  better  be  conserved 
than  on  such  a  basis.  The  diplomacy  of  commerce  can  not  better  be  employed  than 
in  fertilizing  and  making  productive  the  aspirations  that  within  the  last  quarter  of  a 
century  have  germinated.  From  our  own  viewpoint,  here  on  the  northern  continent, 
surveying  the  whole  field  of  Latin  American  commerce,  we  are  struck  with  an 
economic  fact  which  must  govern  our  mutual  relations.  The  trade  currents  which 
flow  between  the  United  States  and  its  Latin  American  neighbors  should  be  north 
and  south.  The  historic  trade  routes  are  along  lines  of  latitude  rather  than  longi- 
tude. There  is  profit  for  all  of  us  in  following  the  natural  lines  of  least  geographic 
resistance.  In  the  trend  of  trade  on  this  hemisphere  the  temperate  and  the  tropical 
regions  are  mutually  dependent  each  on  the  other.  We  have  abundance  of  raw 
material  fabricated  into  finished  products  which  our  southern  neighbors  want.  They 
have  certain  products  which  are  essential  elements  in  our  food  consumption.  Some 
surplus  food  products  we  also  have  for  them.  This  is  a  good  basis  for  mutual 
exchange. 

15 


If  I  were  to  note  the  most  marked  development  in  our  own  commercial  policy 
within  the  last  few  years  as  relates  to  our  Latin  American  neighbors,  I  should  place 
first,  not  the  general  commercial  exchange  of  commodities,  though  that  is  of  great 
importance,  but  the  awakening  of  our  own  people  to  the  opportunities  for  the  invest- 
ment of  capital.  We  have  reached  the  stage  in  our  own  national  development  where 
our  capital,  never  timorous  when  the  opportunities  are  commensurate  with  the 
effort,  looks  to  the  south.  What  we  did  for  the  development  of  the  mines  and  the 
railway  system  of  Mexico,  with  abundantly  satisfactory  returns  to  ourselves  and 
with  equal  advantage  to  our  neighbors  across  the  Rio  Grande,  we  may  further  do 
in  other  countries  not  quite  so  near.  The  movement  is  perhaps  a  little  slow,  but 
it  has  set  in,  and  with  the  exercise  of  that  patience  which  is  one  of  the  temperamental 
characteristics  of  our  Latin  American  friends,  we  may  look  for  a  much  greater 
share  in  their  development  by  capital  from  the  United  States  than  in  the  past. 

We  are  interested  in  bettering  the  steamship  communication.  We  believe 
that,  while  its  material  advantages  are  great,  by  the  better  and  quicker  facilities  for 
mail  and  freight  which  such  improvement  will  afford,  there  is  an  even  greater 
advantage  in  the  closer  intercourse  among  the  different  peoples  which  it  makes 
possible.  We  believe  in  the  era  of  railroad  construction  which  has  set  in  and  which 
is  bearing  such  abundant  fruits,  and  especially  in  that  great  intercontinental  project 
ovith  its  enormous  possibilities  of  good,  the  Pan  American  Railway.  We  believe, 
of  course,  in  the  Panama  Canal,  both  as  a  commercial  factor  and  as  a  moral  force. 
We  believe  in  the  future  development  of  those  vast  treasure  beds  of  the  Andes,  the 
mines,  and  we  hope  to  see  much  more  of  it  done  by  our  own  capital.  We  believe 
in  an  international  bank  which  will  keep  the  commercial  currents  flowing  in  their 
proper  direction.  We  believe  in  all  these  projects,  and  we  believe  that  the  countries 
which  have  these  resources  to  develop  should  be  aided  by  capital  from  the  United 
States  and  the  United  States  should  reap  the  legitimate  fruits  of  such  enterprise. 

ADDRESS  OF  THE  MINISTER  FROM  COSTA  RICA,  SENOR 
DON  JOAQUIN  B.  CALVO 

Director  General  Bajrett  then  introduced  Senor  Don  Joaquin  B. 
Calvo,  Minister  from  Costa  Rica. 

Senor  CALVO  said : 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen:  It  is  most  gratifying  to  note  that,  although 
this  is  not  an  official  affair,  Their  Excellencies  the  President  and  the  Secretary  of 
State  of  the  United  States  have  honored  this  Conference  with  their  presence  and 
their  words,  showing  in  this,  as  in  all  opportune  occasions,  their  earnest  desire  to 
promote  the  best  understanding  with  all  the  other  American  Republics.  I  am  sure 
that  the  sentiments  that  they  have  expressed  will  be  highly  and  justly  appreciated 
in  the  whole  continent.  Particularly  speaking,  permit  me  to  convey  to  them  the 
most  sincere  thanks  in  the  name  of  the  five  Central  American  Republics. 

Gentlemen,  you  have  assembled  here  to  discuss  matters  relative  to  commerce 
and  the  means  to  extend  your  able  activities  and  to  carry  them  beyond  the  national 
boundaries;  you  have  expressed  your  desire  to  establish  and  maintain  closer  rela- 
tions with  the  other  countries  of  this  hemisphere,  and  the  Latin  American  Republics, 
inspired  in  the  same  friendly  spirit,  it  is  well  known,  readily  respond  to  this  call, 
as  you  do,  to  promote  the  great  common  interests  of  the  American  Continent. 

For  Central  America  in  particular,  I  consider  a  blessing  the  proximity  in  which 
those  countries  lie,  nature  having  located  them  in  the  center  of  this  continent,  around 
the  encircled  sea  which  gives  us  the  advantages  of  being  almost  your  riparians,  with 
the  Pacific  Ocean  on  the  other  side,  and  we  know  what  this  means  in  connection 
with  the  development  of  our  countries. 

It  may  interest  you  to  know  that  the  foreign  commerce  of  Central  America 
amounted  last  year  to  more  than  $50,000,000,  detailed  information  to  be  given  during 
the  sessions  of  the  Conference.  These  comparatively  important  figures  show  that 
the  inauguration  of  the  Panama  Canal  will  not  take  us  unprepared,  and  we  hope 
that  Central  America  will  be  largely  benefited  through  the  influence  of  that  great 
undertaking  in  the  general  progress  that  it  will  bring  to  the  commerce  of  the  world. 
The  completion  of  it  is  upon  us,  and  we  will  welcome  it  not  only  from  the  com- 

16 


mercial  point  of  view,  but  particularly  from  that  of  its  civilizing  influences  and  more 
intimate  relations  with  this  great  and  noble  nation. 

Gentlemen,  we  thank  you  very  much  for  your  presence  here,  although  we  are 
same  as  you  are,  invited  guests  to  this  meeting.  The  Conference  not  being  officially 
called,  we  neither  had  opportunity  to  vote  any  resolution  whatever  of  the  Governing 
Board  of  the  Pan  American  Union  in  connection  therewith. 

As  it  has  been  already  said,  the  foreign  commerce, of  the  five  Republics  of 
Central  America  amounted  to  more  than  $50,000,000  in  the  year  1909,  last  figures 
obtainable,  each  country  contributing  as  follows : 

1909. 

Popula-  per 

tion.  Imports.        Exports.  Total.         capita. 

Costa  Rica 368,780  $6,109,938  $8,176,257  $14,286,195  38.80 

Guatemala 1,992,000  5,251,317  10,079,219  15330536  770 

Salvador 1,707,000  4,176,931  6,401,349  10,578,280  6*19 

Nicaragua 600,000  3,500,000  3,600,000  7,100,000  1180 

Honduras 745,000  2,581,553  1,990,601  4,572,154  6.13 


Total 5,412,780        $21,619,739       $30,247,426         $51,867,165  9.58 

This  total,  compared  with  that  of  5,500,000  population,  shows  a  general  per 
capita  of  $9.58. 

The  soil  of  Central  America  is  one  of  the  richest  in  the  world.  It  abounds  in 
minerals,  forest  products  and  all  other  natural  resources,  and  is  adaptable  to  almost 
any  culture,  as  you  all  know,  and  its  location  between  the  two  great  Americas,  bathed 
by  the  two  great  oceans,  commands  a  position  with  no  equal  as  a  center  for  the 
universal  commerce  of  the  future. 

The  progress  of  those  Republics,  if  retarded,  is  noticeable  at  the  present  time. 
Costa  Rica,  notwithstanding  the  calamities  that  befell  her  in  the  last  two  years  of 
uncommonly  heavy  rainy  seasons  and  a  severe  earthquake,  shows  a  per  capita  of 
$38.80.  Costa  Rica  and  Guatemala  enjoy  the  benefits  of  interoceanic  railroad  com- 
munication, and  with  the  others  are  making  energetic  endeavors  to  improve  their 
means  of  communication  by  land  and  water.  We  expect  very  soon  to  see  the  main 
branch  of  the  Pan  American  Railroad  from  the  United  States  through  Mexico  con- 
nected with  the  railroad  lines  in  Guatemala ;  and  soon  afterwards  to  see  them 
connected  also  with  those  of  El  Salvador,  which  are  being  extended  toward  Hon- 
duras and  Nicaragua,  while  prospects  are  the  best  to  have  Costa  Rica,  Nicaragua 
and  Panama  united  in  the  same  way.  The  Costa  Rican  lines  are  extending  toward 
north  and  south  to  those  Republics. 

Communication  by  water  on  the  Atlantic  side  has  been  improved  greatly 
through  the  service  of  the  steamers  of  the  United  Fruit  Company,  and  at  present  is 
most  satisfactory ;  but  in  the  Pacific  the  monopoly  continues  to  keep  the  same  unsat- 
isfactory conditions  which  have  always  existed.  Salvador  has  no  Atlantic  ports,  its 
territory  lying  in  the  Pacific  between  Guatemala  and  Honduras,  almost  touching 
that  of  Nicaragua.  The  connection  of  the  Salvadorean  with  the  Guatemalan  lines, 
therefore,  will  give  that  industrious  Republic  direct  communication  with  the  Atlantic. 

Particularly  speaking  of  Costa  Rica,  my  native  country,  nothing  would  be 
more  gratifying  than  to  mention  the  stability  of  its  Government,  the  legal  succession 
of  one  administration  after  the  other,  in  such  a  regular  way  that  we  are  proud  to 
have  five  living  ex-presidents  among  our  noted  citizens  ("Bernardo  Soto,  1886-1890; 
Jose  J.  Rodriguez,  1890-1894;  Rafael  Iglesias,  1894-1902;  Ascension  Esquivel, 
1902-1906;  Cleto  Gonzalez  Viquez,  1906-1910).  These  facts  bespeak  the  character 
of  the  Costa  Rican  people,  and  their  love  of  order  and  justice,  while  its  foreign 
commerce  attests  to  its  industrious  habits. 

Costa  Rica  by  selection  of  its  sister  Republics  has  the  honor  of  being  the  seat 
of  the  first  permanent  international  court  of  justice  ever  established  on  this  continent. 

Elisee  Reclus,  in  his  famous  "Geographic  Universelle,"  says  that  the  people 
of  Costa  Rica  present  a  certain  originality  from  the  ordinary  Hispanic  American 
communities ;  that  the  melting  of  its  elements  into  one  national  unit  has  been  accom- 
plished there  with  better  success  than  elsewhere.  Felix  Belly,  a  distinguished 
French  traveler,  among  other  well-known  writers,  says  that  the  population  of  Costa 
Rica  in  its  aggregate  represents  the  highest  plane  of  Christian  civilization,  as  well  as 
in  all  that  touches  the  love  of  work  and  of  the  family ;  and  that  the  whole  Republic 
breathes  a  certain  air  of  well-being,  of  honesty,  and  of  goodness.  And  from  a  more 
intimate  source  I  will  have  the  pleasure  of  quoting  the  following  from  the  report  of 
the  Central  and  South  American  Commissioners  from  the  United  States,  1885,  to  wit: 

17 


'The  name  of  Costa  Rica  stands  high  as  a  Republic,  alive  to  the  demands  of  a 
progressive,  freedom- loving  people;  her  institutions  and  her  wealth,  her  industries 
and  improvements,  bespeak  a  nation  whose  face  is  to  the  future,  and  whose  enter- 
prise will  carry  her  to  the  high  position  her  natural  endowments  and  resources  and 
advanced  ideas  demand." 

Foreigners  enjoy  in  Costa  Rica  the  same  civil  rights  as  the  natives,  without 
the  necessity  of  being  admitted  to  citizenship  or  being  compelled  to  pay  any  contribu- 
tion thereon.  They  can  carry  on  their  business  and  manufactures,  own  real  estate, 
buy  and  sell,  navigate  the  rivers  and  coasts,  exercise  freely  their  religious  creeds, 
marry^  and  dispose  of  their  property  by  will. 

In  this  connection  it  is  to  be  noted  that  although  comparatively  the  number  of 
foreigners  residing  in  Costa  Rica  and  the  amount  of  foreign  capital — particularly 
American  capital — invested  there  are  larger  than  at  any  of  the  neighboring  countries, 
Costa  Rica  has  not  at  present,  nor  ever  had  at  any  time,  claims  presented  against  her 
for  damages  or  injuries  to  those  who  have  selected  our  country  as  their  home  or  who 
came  to  our  shores  on  business  or  to  practice  their  professions. 

In  regard  to  currency,  Costa  Rica  adopted  and  maintains  very  successfully  the 
gold  standard,  has  a  solid  banking  system,  and  is  in  the  way  of  very  substantial 
improvements  in  its  financial  affairs. 

The  history  of  the  Costa  Rican  commerce  is  a  good  illustration  of  the  possi- 
bilities of  the  United  States  in  Latin  America.  Formerly  our  trade  was  carried 
on  chiefly  with  England,  from  the  Pacific  through  the  Strait  of  Magellan.  After- 
wards it  went  through  the  Panama  Railway,  but  since  communication  by  rail  with 
the  Atlantic  was  opened,  conditions  changed  essentially.  Notwithstanding  that  the 
Atlantic  Railway  belongs  to  an  English  company,  our  trade  with  the  United  States 
has  increased  from  1880  up  to  the  present  time  to  57  per  cent,  of  its  total  amount. 
That  is  to  say,  that  Costa  Rica  does  more  business  with  this  country  than  with  all 
the  other  nations  combined.  Last  year  we  exported  to  the  United  States  $4,802,254 
and  imported  $3,376,350  of  American  goods — $8,178,606  out  of  the  total  amount  of 
$14,286,195,  the  total  Costa  Rican  commerce. 

Imports.       Exports. 

United  States $3,376,350  $4,802,254 

Great  Britain 1,115,676  2,944,947 

Germany 802,234  166,686 

France 305,497  117,298 

Other  countries 510,181  145,072 


Total $6,109,938         $8,176,257 

All  the  above  shows  without  question  that  Costa  Rica  presents,  as  already 
said,  a  good  illustration  of  the  possibilities  for  the  business  men  of  the  United  States 
in  Latin  America.  Were  Costa  Rica  a  larger  country,  the  facts  I  have  briefly  men- 
tioned would  be  loudly  spread  everywhere. 

As  for  details,  they  are  to  be  found  in  the  publications  of  the  Pan  American 
Union. 

ADDRESS  OF  THE  MINISTER  FROM  BOLIVIA, 
SENOR  DON  IGNACIO  CALDERON 

Director  General  Barrett  then  introduced  Senor  Don  Ignacio 
Calderon,  Minister  from  Bolivia. 

Senor  CALDERON  said : 

Mr.  President — Gentlemen:  "Your  presence  here  is  no  ordinary  event.  It 
signifies  much  to  the  people  of  all  America.  It  may  signify  much  more  in  days  to 
come." 

Such  were  the  prophetic  words  that  the  far-seeing  statesman,  James  G.  Elaine, 
uttered  welcoming  in  this  city  the  First  Pan  American  Conference. 

Today  on  the  eve  of  the  fulfillment  of  that  prophecy  it  is  my  privilege  and 
special  pleasure  to  welcome  you  here  in  this  palace  of  peace  dedicated  to  the  brother- 
hood of  all  the  American  Republics  through  the  concourse  of  all  of  them,  and  prin- 
cipally by  the  magnificent  liberality  of  that  noble  philanthropist,  ANDREW  CARNEGIE, 
who  so  well  knew  how  to  use  wealth  in  a  democracy. 

18 


I  am  compelled  to  acknowledge  that  the  first  years  of  the  existence  of  this 
institution  passed  in  a  kind  of  what  somebody  might  have  called  "innocuous  desue- 
tude;" the  time  was  not  ripe  for  it.  The  public  opinion  in  this  country  was  indif- 
ferent and  South  America  was  in  bad  odor,  as  the  papers  never  printed  any  other 
news  than  that  of  revolutions  and  disorder,  and  made  free  use  of  some  of  the  stock 
jokes  about  the  armies  with  a  hundred  generals  and  one  soldier,  and  so  forth. 

On  the  other  hand,  many  malicious  reports  were  spread  in  the  southern 
Republics  about  the  great  "northern  eagle,"  that  was  only  a  big  bird  of  prey,  ready 
to  pounce  and  gobble  up  all  the  Republics  in  South  America. 

Under  such  circumstances  it  was  natural  that  the  cause  of  Pan  Americanism 
should  not  progress,  but  in  the  summer  of  1906  another  great  statesman  went  forth 
to  South  America  with  a  message  of  peace  and  of  friendship  from  the  people  and 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  their  southern  sister  Republics. 

How  well  Mr.  Root  fulfilled  his  noble  mission  is  matter  of  history.  His  elo- 
quent and  sincere  words  were  received  in  all  good  faith,  and  when  at  the  meeting 
of  the  Third  Pan  American  Conference  in  Rio  he  explained  the  position  of  this 
country  in  clear  and  forcible  terms,  no  doubt  was  entertained  about  its  meaning. 
He  frankly  declared :  "We  wish  for  no  victories  but  that  of  peace,  for  no  territory 
except  our  own ;  for  no  sovereignty  except  the  sovereignty  of  ourselves,"  and  after 
said :  "We  wish  to  increase  our  prosperity,  to  expand  our  trade,  to  grow  in  wealth, 
in  wisdom,  and  in  spirit,  but  our  conception  of  the  true  way  to  accomplish  this  is 
not  to  pull  down  others  and  profit  by  their  ruin,  but  to  help  all  our  friends  to  a 
common  growth  and  prosperity,  that  we  may  become  stronger  and  greater  together." 
The  policy  of  this  great  nation  was  clearly  defined.  And  when  he  came  back  to  this 
country  he  awakened  public  opinion  as  to  the  progress  and  development  of  the 
Southern  Republics. 

Since  then  the  interest  of  this  country  in  South  America  has  been  growing 
steadily  under  the  wise  impulse  given  to  our  good  relations  by  the  present  adminis- 
tration and  its  able  Secretary  of  State,  and  the  work  of  propaganda  by  that  apostle 
of  Pan  Americanism,  the  Director  General  of  this  Union. 

Speaking  to  an  assemblage  as  intelligent  as  this  I  need  not  dwell  on  the  great 
possibilities  offered  by  South  America,  but  I  will  say  it  is  one  of  the  greatest  conti- 
nents on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Stretching  its  length  from  the  shore  of  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  down  to  the  frigid  regions  of  Cape  Horn,  South  America  with  its  area  of 
over  7,700,000  square  miles  of  territory  offers  to  human  industry  and  necessity  every 
gift  that  bountiful  nature  could  bestow. 

Its  grand  and  majestic  mountains,  its  secular  and  imposing  forests,  its  great 
rivers,  such  as  the  Amazon,  that  for  over  3000  miles  can  float  the  largest  ships,  are 
full  of  the  most  admirable  panorama  that  is  given  man  to  contemplate. 

Venezuela,  Colombia  and  Ecuador  in  the  northern  section  are  rich  in  every 
kind  of  tropical  product,  such  as  coffee,  cocoa,  nuts,  rubber,  etc.,  and  its  savannas  are 
capable  of  maintaining  millions  of  cattle.  They  are  rich  in  various  mineral  products, 
asphalt  lakes,  emerald  mines  and  pearl  fisheries. 

Farther  south  Peru  produces  great  quantities  of  sugar,  cotton  and  alpaca  wool, 
and  has  great  petroleum  fields.  Chile  owns  the  great  nitrate  fields  which  furnish  the 
world's  agricultural  fertilizers.  Its  central  valleys  are  rich  in  agricultural  products, 
and  its  wine  industry  is  being  greatly  developed,  as  is  also  sheep  raising. 

Farther  south  the  Argentine  Republic  occupies  already  a  commanding  position 
in  the  world's  trade  as  a  great  exporter  of  agricultural  and  animal  products. 
Uruguay  and  Paraguay  are  also  countries  rich  in  the  same  kind  of  products. 

Brazil,  with  its  vast  territory  and  great  rivers,  furnishes  today  the  greater  part 
of  the  coffee  and  rubber  consumed  in  this  and  other  countries. 

Bolivia,  my  country,  situated  in  the  center  of  the  continent,  is  the  richest 
country  in  mineral  wealth  and  has  contributed  for  centuries  millions  of  dollars 
worth  of  silver ;  besides,  there  are  copper,  zinc,  bismuth  and  gold  mines.  Tin  is  now 
one  of  the  leading  exports  and  furnishes  at  least  one-fourth  of  the  world's  produc- 
tion, and  should  it  cease  in  the  few  other  places  where  it  is  now  produced  Bolivia 
could  well  supply  the  world  with  all  the  tin  needed. 

This  great  development  of  the  southern  countries  is  represented  by  over  two 
thousand  million  dollars  of  their  international  trade. 

This  enormous  sum  is  constantly  growing  as  the  construction  of  the  railways 
is  being  pushed  everywhere. 

Brazil  is  extending  its  lines  from  north  to  south  and  from  west  to  east, 
stretching  them  toward  Uruguay  and  Paraguay. 

19 


The  Argentine  is  gridironed  with  over  16,000  miles  of  railways,  and  new  lines 
are  being  built  in  response  to  the  need  of  its  growing  trade. 

Chile  is  about  to  construct  a  line  along  its  coast  from  north  to  south;  it  has 
also  in  connection  with  the  Argentine  completed  the  great  tunnel  under  the  Andes, 
that  has  put  in  close  contact  Buenos  Aires  and  Santiago. 

On  the  summit  of  the  Andes  stands  that  world-wide  famous  monument  of 
Christ  th€  Redeemer,  the  noblest  expression  of  the  sentiments  for  peace  and 
fraternity  in  democratic  America. 

Bolivia  is  developing  a  carefully  mapped  railway  system  that  is  being  carried 
out>  One  of  its  lines,  going  from  north  to  south  all  through  its  high  plateau,  will 
afford  a  continuous  railway  communication  between  La  Paz  and  Buenos  Aires. 
Other  lines  will  be  extended  through  the  eastern  section  of  the  country  to  facilitate 
the  exportation  of  the  abundant  rubber  forests,  rich  pastures  and  all  kinds  of  tropical 
products. 

Peru  is  extending  its  railway  lines  to  the  head  waters  of  the  Amazon  in  the 
north  and  bringing  them  down  in  the  south  to  connect  with  the  Bolivian  system. 
And  soon  it  may  be  possible  to  go  by  through  trains  from  Lima  on  the  Pacific  coast 
to  Buenos  Aires  on  the  Atlantic. 

Ecuador  has  built  a  railway  from  Guayaquil,  its  main  port  on  the  Pacific,  to 
Quito,  the  capital  of  the  Republic,  and  other  lines  are  in  contemplation.  The  same 
work  is  going  on  in  Colombia  and  Venezuela. 

The  great  commercial  progress  of  South  America  is  represented  by  two 
thousand  million  dollars  worth  of  exports  and  imports,  and  out  of  this  enormous 
amount  the  share  of  the  United  States  is  very  reduced  comparatively. 

It  is  a  painful  fact  that  all  through  South  America  there  are  no  American 
banking  institutions,  whereas  you  can  find  English,  French,  Italian,  German  and 
Spanish  banks  in  all  the  great  capitals. 

It  is  true  that  you  have  been  too  busy  developing  the  resources  of  this 
magnificent  country  to  bring  it  to  the  front  rank  as  one  of  the  greatest  powers 
industrially,  financially  and  politically.  You  have  been  too  busy  creating  multi- 
millionaires by  hundreds,  but  the  time  has  come  when  the  expansion  of  your 
financial  and  manufacturing  resources  demand  new  and  enlarged  markets. 

The  opening  of  the  Panama  Canal  will  make  yet  more  important  the  develop- 
ment of  the  free  commercial  relations  with  both  Americas.  The  completion  of  that 
stupendous  work  called  to  revolutionize  the  political  and  trade  relations  of  the 
world  will  show  how  near  neighbors  we  are  and  how  close  together  are  the  coun- 
tries of  this  hemisphere. 

It  would  be  presumptuous  for  me  to  say  anything  about  the  means  and 
methods  by  which  the  commercial  relations  of  our  countries  can  be  developed  when 
I  see  here  represented  all  the  great  commercial  and  industrial  interests  by  men 
high  in  the  management  of  business  affairs. 

This  Congress  will  no  doubt  discuss  and  determine  the  best  means  to  that  end. 
I  must  say,  though,  that  the  mere  buying  and  selling  of  products  is  not  the  whole 
aim  of  the  nation's  life.  There  are  the  great  ideals,  the  sentiments  that  inspire  and 
guide  their  conduct,  that  are  more  lasting  and  have  much  greater  importance.  In 
developing,  consolidating  and  strengthening  the  power  of  our  Republics  we  must  not 
forget  that  we  are  consolidating  and  insuring  for  mankind  those  noble  and  elevating 
principles  of  democracy  that  stand  for  the  uplifting  of  our  race,  for  leaving  open  the 
road  to  success  to  every  man  with  brains  enough,  right  heart  and  perseverance  to 
forge  his  way ;  that  we  stand  for  the  equality  of  man  and  to  not  recognize  any  other 
superiority  or  distinction  but  that  which  comes  with  a  duty  nobly  performed,  with 
the  spirit  of  charity  and  justice  in  all  actions. 

Democracy  in  this  American  Continent  means  the  absolute  empire  of  right,  of 
justice  and  the  development  of  every  impulse  that  makes  man  nobler  and  purer. 

Would  that  the  flag  of  this  great  country,  the  beautiful  Stars  and  Stripes,  sur- 
rounded by  the  free  flags  of  all  the  nations  you  see  displayed  in  the  corridor  of  this 
building,  always  wave  over  millions  and  millions  of  happy  men,  free,  united  in  the 
common  work  of  consolidating  right  and  justice  in  the  world,  and  bring  one  day 
the  reign  of  that  peace  on  earth  proclaimed  nineteen  hundred  years  ago  by  angelic 
voices  from  heaven  and  so  earnestly  sought  by  every  right-thinking  man  and  woman 
in  the  world. 

20 


ADDRESS  OF  THE,  FORMER  AMBASSADOR  FROM   MEXICO, 
SENOR  DON  JOAQUIN  D.  CASASUS 

Director  General  Barrett  then  introduced  Senor  Don  Casasus,  former 
ambassador  from  Mexico. 

Senor  CASASUS  said: 

Mr.  President,  Gentlemen:  It  is  to  the  happy  initiative  of  that  distinguished 
statesman,  JAMES  G.  ELAINE,  that  we  owe  the  conference  of  the  American  nations, 
which  since  1889  have  been  held  from  time  to  time  and  which  have  been  so  productive 
of  beneficial  results  and  have  brought  us  a  rich  and  abundant  harvest. 

The  natural  and  fruitful  consequences  of  the  arduous  labor  begun  with  such 
faith  and  carried  out  with  such  tenacity  of  purpose  by  the  International  Conferences 
of  the  American  Nations  are  the  following :  A  better  knowledge  of  each  other 
among  these  nations;  the  intelligent  consideration  of  the  different  international 
problems  that  separate  some  nations  while  uniting  others;  frequency  of  communica- 
tion, bringing  with  it  closer  relations ;  the  ever-recurring  endeavors  showing  the 
need  of  codification  of  international  law ;  the  stage  of  progress  reached  in  making 
arbitration  the  only  solution  of  international  conflicts,  and  the  part  that  all  Latin 
America  took  in  The  Hague  Conference,  so  that  their  important  interests  should  be 
there  represented  for  the  first  time. 

When  the  first  Pan  American  Conference  was  held  in  Washington  a  large 
number  of  European  and  American  statesmen  were  of  the  opinion  that  its  object 
was  quite  unattainable ;  that  the  plans  laid  out  to  reach  the  desired  end  were  but  a 
chimera  and  that  it  seemed  impossible  that  such  live  forces  should  be  directed  to 
following  a  "will-o'-the-wisp,"  a  mirage  like  those  that  the  vast  sandy  plains  of  the 
desert  present  to  the  eyes  of  the  tired  traveler. 

Today  we  have  to  confess  that  those  who  held  such  opinions  were  in  error; 
though  it  be  true  that  the  progress  of  nations  can  not  be  effected,  unless  there  be  in 
sight  a  more  or  less  remote  ideal,  just  as  we  can  not  comprehend  life  without  the 
charm  of  some  illusion,  the  mirage  of  some  hope,  so  the  aims  which  led  the  Govern- 
ments of  America  to  meet  together  in  frequent  conferences,  have  been  inspired  by 
the  conviction  of  their  great  needs  and  by  the  earnest  desire  to  satisfy  them  in  the 
most  efficacious  manner. 

The  Pan  American  Conferences  have  not  had  in  view  the  suppression  of  those 
barriers  which  divide  nations.  That,  indeed,  would  be  a  dream.  They  have  never 
pretended  to  realize  the  political  union  of  different  American  nationalities.  That 
would  be  a  wild  flight  of  imagination.  They  have  never  thought  of  the  possible  con- 
stitution of  a  Zollverein,  which  relegates  the  home  interests  of  each  nationality  to 
oblivion ;  that  would  be  an  impossibility.  But  they  have  recognized  that  commercial 
ties  are  the  closest  bonds. of  a  strong  and  lasting  union.  For  that  reason  all  their 
forces  have  been  brought  into  play,  inspired  by  a  modern  and  practical  spirit  to 
facilitate  the  development  of  means  of  communication,  to  the  building  of  solid  founda- 
tions for  international  exchange  and  to  the  striving,  because  of  a  fuller  knowledge 
of  their  products  and  consumption,  to  obtain  a  more  rapid  increase  of  their  wealth 
and  greater  benefits  from  the  reciprocal  exchange. 

The  union  of  the  American  Republics,  thus  conceived,  was  a  symbol  represent- 
ing a  tendency  and,  therefore,  an  ideal  which  demanded  an  effort  for  its  realization ; 
in  other  words,  a  purpose. 

Today,  those  who  are  more  or  less  interested  in  Pan  Americanism  see  that  the 
symbol  has  taken  shape,  the  shape  most  apt  to  become  a  living  organism;  that  the 
ideal  is  an  astonishing  reality,  that  the  purpose  has  been  crowned  by  success. 

The  union  of  the  American  Republics  dreamed  of  by  Elaine  and  created  by 
the  Conference  of  1889  has  acquired  by  a  better  organization  greater  stability-ron 
the  one  hand,  thanks  to  the  intelligent  initiative  of  Elihu  Root,  in  whom  the  practical 
spirit  of  the  man  of  affairs  unites  so  admirably  with  the  prudence  of  the  statesman, 
and  on  the  other  due  to  the  resolutions  approved  by  the  Conferences  of  Rio  de  Janeiro 
and  Buenos  Aires. 

The  commercial  progress  of  the  nations  of  America  among  themselves,  re 
tarded  because  of  the  enormous  distances  separating  them,  the  vast  extent  of  then 
territories,  quite  out  of  proportion  with  the  number  of  their  population,  the  vast 
riches  lying  in  the  soil  unexpected  and  as  yet  not  even  explored,  has  an  imperative 

21 


need  of  an  institution  that  by  rapid  communication  may  abolish  distances,  and  by 
the  kind  of  information  scattered  broadcast  may  make  up  in  a  way  for  the  scarcity 
of  population.  An  institution  which,  by  the  publication  of  reliable  data,  may  make 
known  the  existence  of  those  riches  upon  the  exploitation  of  which  depends  the 
greatest  welfare  of  nations,  as  well  as  the  rapid  progress  of  civilization. 

The  nations  of  Latin  America,  like  most  new  countries,  have  but  little  capital. 
Teeming  with  possibilities  like  all  rich  countries,  they  need  to  make  their  products 
known  and  must  offer  complete  security  for  the  investment  of  foreign  capital. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  United  States,  which  has  a  glut  of  capital  and  seeks 
beyond  its  boundaries  a  manner  of  investing  which  may  increase  this  capital,  stands 
in  need  of  reliable  data  giving  accurate  information  in  regard  to  opportunities  of  all 
kinds  and  guaranteeing  the  rapid  increase  of  the  capital  invested. 

For  this  reason  the  institution  of  the  Pan  American  Union  meets  the  exigen- 
cies of  the  present  moment  and  is  called  upon  to  fill  a  want  that  the  United  States 
as  well  as  all  Latin  America  equally  feels. 

Commercial  congresses,  by  which  all  practical  men  in  America  are  brought 
together,  commercial  museums  for  the  permanent  exposition  of  manufactures,  prod- 
ucts of  the  soil,  and  of  the  minerals  hidden  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  as  well  as  all 
the  wonders  nature  conceals,  the  wise  dissemination  of  trustworthy  data  and  correct 
information,  all  this  will  eventually  do  away  with  the  obnoxious  middleman,  while 
facilitating  more  intimate  knowledge  of  men  of  business  and  bankers  who  will  bring 
the  enormous  capital  needed  for  the  development  of  Latin  American  wealth. 

The  Pan  American  Union  is  the  institution  best  qualified  to  develop  this 
scheme.  Its  first  commercial  congress  is  inaugurated  today.  Later  on  will  come 
the  opening  of  its  commercial  museum,  and  the  organization  of  its  agencies  in  all 
America.  Through  the  medium  of  the  Bulletin  an  intelligent  propaganda  is  carried 
on,  placing  before  those  interested  the  best  information,  so  that  capitalists  may  know 
where  to  invest  their  money  safely,  thus  successfully  filling  the  great  object  of  the 
institution. 

The  Pan  American  Union,  which  exists  today  in  a  building  worthy  of  the 
institution  for  its  grandeur  and  beauty,  will  reach  some  day  in  the  near  future  the 
acme  of  its  success  by  the  efficiency  of  its  work  and  the  important  services  rendered 
to  the  commercial  relations  of  America. 

The  illusion  of  yesterday  has  become  a  beautiful  reality.  Over  it  now  and  ever 
hovers  the  ideal  of  the  National  Conferences  of  America;  that  is,  the  stability  and 
progress  of  its  commercial  relations. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  J.  A.  FARRELL,  PRESIDENT  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES  STEEL  CORPORATION 

Director  General  Barrett  then  introduced  Mr.  J.  A.  Farrell,  president 
of  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation. 

Mr.  FARRELL  said : 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  The  International  Union  of  American 
Republics,  commonly  called  "The  Pan  American  Union,"  its  distinguished  Board  of 
Directors,  and  its  competent,  zealous  and  efficient  Director  General,  Mr.  Barrett, 
together  with  the  Assistant  Director,  Mr.  Francisco  J.  Yanes,  are  to  be  congratulated 
upon  this  great  gathering  of  representative  business  men,  interested  in  promoting 
trade  and  commerce  between  the  countries  comprising  Latin  America  and  the 
United  States. 

As  anyone  who  studies  the  progress  of  nations  can  perceive,  the  producing 
capacity  of  the  United  States  has  reached  a  point  far  exceeding  the  consumption, 
and  the  ratio  of  excess  is  assuming  greater  proportions  each  year.  It  is  therefore 
imperative  for  the  manufacturers  of  this  country  to  look  beyond  its  borders  for 
markets  wherein  they  can  profitably  dispose  of  their  manufactures,  and,  naturally, 
our  geographical  position  points  to  the  vast  country  lying  to  the  south  of  us  as  a 
market  which  should  enable  us  to  secure  a  portion  of  the  trade  commensurate  to 
our  position  as  one  of  the  foremost  producing  nations. 

The  possibilities  for  the  consumption  of  American  products  in  the  markets 
of  our  neighboring  countries  have  long  been  realized  by  the  greatest  statesmen,  as 
well  as  the  leaders  in  the  economic  and  commercial  enterprises  of  our  country.  To 


everyone  engaged  in  foreign  commerce  there  comes  a  broader  knowledge  of  human 
affairs  and  a  better  understanding  of  the  relations  of  men  and  of  nations  and  their 
relations  to  each  other  than  comes  to  those  who  are  solely  engaged  in  domestic  or 
local  enterprises. 

It  has  been  the  fashion  to  criticize  American  export  methods  indiscriminately : 
so  also  it  has  been  the  fashion  to  criticize  the  commercial  methods  of  South  American 
buyers.  There  are  doubtless  examples  meriting  criticism  in  both  cases,  but  my 
observation,  extending  over  many  years  in  the  export  business,  and  based  on  a  direct 
personal  acquaintance  with  the  world's  markets,  enables  me  to  state  that,  generally 
speaking,  the  products  of  our  country  and  the  manner  in  which  they  are  packed  for 
shipment  are  equal,  if  not  in  many  cases  superior,  to  the  products  and  methods  of 
European  manufacturing  countries. 

The  improvement  which  is  constantly  taking  place  in  the  quality  and  character 
of  American  manufactures  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  our  trade  is  constantly  increas- 
ing. It  is  a  fallacy  to  believe  that  quality  does  not  count  and  that  South  America 
wants  cheap  goods.  My  experience  is  this,  when  our  friends  want  railway  materials, 
and  a  thousand  and  one  other  things,  they  are  as  well  able  to  recognize  quality  and 
as  competent  to  determine  their  necessities  as  we  are. 

The  business  methods  of  our  friends  to  the  south  of  us  do  not  differ  materially 
from  ours,  excepting  that  they  are  rather  more  conservative.  It  is  more  difficult  to 
secure  business  connections  there  than  in  our  country,  but,  once  secured  and  mutual 
confidence  established,  it  is  of  a  permanent  character. 

The  countries  comprising  what  is. commonly  called  "Latin  America"  should  be 
drawn  by  a  generous  exchange  of  commodities  through  the  peaceful  channels  of 
trade  and  commerce.  As  fair  dealing  is  the  only  foundation  upon  which  a  sound 
and  successful  enterprise  can  be  established,  none  but  those  of  undoubted  character 
and  business  ability  should  be  sent  to  represent  American  industrial  enterprises. 
In  our  relations  with  Latin  America,  this  thought  should  be  uppermost  in  the  minds 
of  those  of  our  merchants  who  would  seek  a  market  in  these  countries.  The  patient 
cultivation  of  our  trade  will  carry  with  it  rewards  of  great  mutual  advantage. 

Since  the  establishment  of  the  Pan  American  Union,  much  has  been  accom- 
plished to  develop  trade  with  those  countries.  Our  neighbors  have  alw'ays  found  in 
the  United  States  the  greatest  and  best  market  for  their  products,  statistics  showing 
that  we  have  given  them  more  in  trade  than  we  have  received;  the  reason  for  this 
being  that,  until  comparatively  recent  years,  we,  as  a  nation,  have  been  largely  inter- 
ested in  the  internal  development  of  our  natural  resources,  and  have  given  little 
thought  to  the  development  of  foreign  trade,  except  as  our  requirements  or  necessi- 
ties impelled  us. 

The  growth  of  our  country's  trade  with  the  Latin  American  Republics  fur- 
nishes a  striking  example  of  what  can  be  accomplished  by  commercial  friendship  and 
co-operation.  It  is  beyond  the  scope  of  this  address  to  do  more  than  briefly  outline 
the  nature  and  value  of  the  trade  between  us. 

The  establishment  of  American  banking  facilities  and  American  steamship 
lines  are  incidental  matters  which  will  evolve  in  the  course  of  time. 

The  completion  of  the  Panama  Canal  will  give  a  wonderful  impetus  to  Pan 
American  trade.  It  is  impossible,  at  this  time,  to  fully  estimate  the  benefits  that  will 
accrue  to  the  manufacturing  and  industrial  interests  of  the  United  States  and  Latin 
America.  We  are  justified  in  believing  that  it  will  undoubtedly  prove  one  of  the 
most  profitable  investments  ever  made  by  our  Government,  aside  from  its  being  a 
national  necessity. 

The  United  States  Government  statistical  reports  for  the  calendar  year  1910, 
recently  published  by  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  show  that  our  trade 
with  the  countries  embraced  in  the  Pan  American  Union,  in  round  figures,  was  as 
follows : 

Imports $394,000,000 

Exports 260,000,000 

Balance  against  the  United  States 134,000,000 

This  adverse  balance  is  largely  accounted  for  by  the  figures  of  our  commerce 
with  Brazil,  which  were,  in  round  numbers": 

Imports $1031000,000 

Exports 25,000,000 

Balance  against  United  States 78,000,000 

23 


While  I  have  not  at  hand  the  latest  statistics  of  the  total  amount  of  the  trade 
of  other  countries  with  those  embraced  in  Pan  American  Union,  it  will  be  interesting 
to  note  the  comparison  of  the  figures  for  steel  products  alone,  for  which  class  of 
trade  reasonably  close  approximations  are  obtainable.  The  comparison  is  as  follows : 

In  1910  the  manufacturers  of  the  United  States  exported  to  the  Pan  American 
States,  steel  products  of  an  aggregate  value  of  $21,000,000,  as  against  a  total  of 
$35,000,000  exported  by  European  manufacturers  to  the  same  countries. 

We  are  a  great  manufacturing  nation,  and  as  such,  it  is  only  reasonable  for  us 
to  lopk  to  our  neighbors  for  fair  exchange  of  our  commodities  in  return  for  those 
we  obtain  from  them.  Up  to  within  recent  years  a  large  percentage  of  our  country's 
exports  came  to  our  manufacturers  without  any  particular  effort,  but  in  late  years 
it  has  been  necessary  for  our  manufacturers  to  study  foreign  markets.  To  be  suc- 
cessful our  manufacturers  must  have  a  fuller  knowledge  of  their  requirements  and 
keep  in  closer  touch  with  their  customers.  Such  contact  places  them  in  a  more 
intelligent  position  respecting  our  resources  and  products,  and  promotes  an  inter- 
course which  is  mutually  beneficial.  System,  purpose  and  organization  are  the  only 
things  that  count  in  the  long  run. 

The  delusion  exists  that  the  trade  of  the  United  States  with  foreign  countries 
is  carried  on  within  narrow  limits,  among  others  the  claim  being  made  that  we  do 
not  extend  credits,  and  in  consequence  a  large  volume  of  trade  goes  to  Europe  which 
would  come  here  were  we  to  grant  credits  of  six  to  nine  months.  In  the  great 
majority  of  cases  credits  such  as  referred  to  are  granted  only  against  acceptance  of 
drafts,  with  interest  added  for  the  accommodation,  but  the  bulk  of  the  business  done 
with  the  best  buyers,  wherever  found,  is  either  against  bank  credit,  or  cash  against 
shipping  documents.  Wherever  there  is  a  basis  for  credit,  American  manufacturers 
will  be  found  as  ready  to  grant  it  as  Europeans. 

It  is  only  within  the  past  few  years  that  we  have  had  direct  lines  of  communi- 
cation from  the  United  States  to  many  South  American  ports.  The  growth  and 
development  of  trade  and  commerce  between  the  United  States  and  the  countries 
of  Latin  America  has  now  been  increased  to  such  proportions  that  there  are  frequent 
sailings  between  ports  of  the  United  States,  on  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  coasts,  direct 
to  the  ports  of  Latin  America,  on  both  the  east  and  west  coasts. 

In  the  development  of  our  trade  we  should  endeavor  to  obtain  our  full  share 
of  business  by  fair  and  honorable  means  and  with  due  regard  to  the  rights  of  those 
with  whom  we  are  trading.  The  saying,  "Competition  is  the  life  of  trade"  is  a 
truism  to  which  daily  utterance  is  given.  Were  this  changed  to  "Fair  competition  is 
the  life  of  trade,"  it  would  more  correctly  represent  the  basis  upon  which  sound  and 
lasting  business  relations  may  be  established. 

If  we  investigate  the  commercial  and  economic  history  of  the  countries  that 
have  made  the  greatest  strides  in  ancient  and  modern  times,  we  will  find  that  their 
Governments  and  statesmen  have  given  their  best  thought,  energy  and  support  to 
foster  and  protect  their  interest  at  home  and  to  seek  markets  abroad. 

The  Pan  American  Union  is  performing  a  great  work  for  the  advancement 
of  trade,  commerce,  peace  and  civilization,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  respective 
Governments  will  continue  to  support  the  movement  so  that  a  lasting  goodwill  may 
be  established  through  the  peaceful  contests  fought  out  in  the  channels  of  trade  and 
commerce. 

This  occasion  should  not  be  allowed  to  pass  without  a  word  of  congratulation 
to  the  commercial  world,  and  more  particularly  to  our  distinguished  President  and 
Secretary  of  State,  on  the  decisive  and  effective  position  taken  and  held  during 
recent  years  towards  the  perfection  of  our  diplomatic  and  consular  organization. 
The  commercial  world  is  watching  our  consular  service  and  the  efforts  of  the  Gov- 
ernment to  keep  this  most  important  branch  of  our  foreign  representation  on  a  merit 
and  business  basis. 

Our  consular  service  has  grown  and  developed  in  recent  years  under  the 
present  policy  of  the  Government,  so  as  to  merit  the  confidence  of  our  citizens  at 
home  and  abroad.  We  should  not  forget  that  this  service  remains  the  one  organized 
expression  of  our  country  in  its  stupendous  contests  which  are  now  engaging  the 
nations  of  the  earth  in  competition. 

*The  commercial  interests  of  the  United  States  should  guard  it  jealously  and 
support  and  fortify  in  every  possible  manner  the  splendid  work  of  Secretary  Knox 
and  Director  ^Carr  in  their  efforts  to  maintain  and  improve  this  branch  of  the  Gov- 
ernment service. 

24 


The  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor  has  also  in  recent  years  achieved 
splendid  results  by  sending  special  agents  throughout  the  world  to  report  on  business 
and  economic  conditions  with  a  view  to  the  promotion  of  our  country's  trade  and 
commerce  with  foreign  countries. 

As  a  business  proposition  alone  the  emoluments  of  every  consulate  on  the  list 
where  conditions  recommend  its  continuance  should  be  markedly  advanced.  Our 
consular  service  is  highly  efficient  and  no  just  criticism  can  be  made  of  it,  but  men 
tire  of  working  for  glory  alone.  The  service  should  be  fixed  by  statute  on' a  perma- 
nent basis  and  salaries  paid  commensurate  with  the  importance  of  the  work  and  the 
pretensions  of  our  country. 

I  am  one  who  believes  the  American  consular  service  is  the  best  in  the  world. 
I  have  met  many  consular  officers,  and  I  have  invariably  found  them  interested  in 
their  work  and  appreciative  of  the  significance  of  American  commerce. 

In  this  connection  the  thought  is  suggested  how  the  consular  organization 
might  be  used  in  a  direct  manner  for  the  dissemination  of  information  concerning 
American  manufactures  and  exports  in  a  wise  and  comprehensive  way.  This  could 
be  done  by  establishing  a  consular  trade  bulletin  to  be  published  by  the  Government 
in  several  different  editions  and  in  different  foreign  languages,  printing  the  standard 
American  exports  with  specimen  prices  and  other  information  indicated  by  bills  of 
lading  and  invoices  at  the  point  of  shipment. 

Such  publication  being  of  a  statistical  character  and  bearing  the  imprint  of 
the  United  States  Government,  would  be  received  without  prejudice  in  every  market 
of  the  world. 

ADDRESS  OF  HON.  CHAMP  CLARK,  SPEAKER-ELECT 
OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES 

Director  General  Barrett  then  introduced  Hon.  Champ  Clark,  M.  C. 
from  Missouri  and  Speaker-elect  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

Mr.  CLARK  said : 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  You  came  very  near  being  deprived 
of  my  society  this  evening  on  account  of  the  great  debate  that  is  now  raging  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  on  the  Canadian  reciprocity  bill.  That  is  a  document  that 
President  Taft  and  myself  sort  of  own  in  partnership.  We  went  into  Committee  of 
the  Whole  on  the  state  of  the  Union  to  discuss  it,  by  a  vote  of  195  to  131,  which  I 
suppose  is  really  about  a  test  vote. 

I  am  going  to  speak  for  myself  now  and  not  for  President  Taft  or  for  anybody 
else.  I  am  in  favor  of  reciprocity,  not  only  with  Canada  but  with  all  the  South 
and  Central  American  Republics.  In  fact,  I  am  in  favor  of  reciprocity  with  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth.  When  I  am  making  a  stump  speech — which  I  am  not  doing 
this  afternoon — I  define  reciprocity  this  way :  You  tickle  me  and  I'll  tickle  you. 
You  trade  with  me  and  I  will  trade  with  you.  And  I  do  not  believe  that  honest 
trade  ever  hurt  anybody  or  any  nation. 

I  am  not  going  to  try  to  rival  these  distinguished  orators  who  have  preceded 
me,  because  I  have  not  had  any  time  to  take  away  from  that  debate  up  there.  I  see 
the  way  you  have  got  this  programme  arranged,  though.  You  have  President  Taft 
for  the  last,  which  is  on  the  principle,  I  suppose,  that  at  the  feasts  they  have  the 
best  wine  last.  Shakespeare  says : 

"To  gild  refined  gold,  to  paint  the  lily, 

To  throw  a  perfume  on  the  violet, 

To  smooth  the  ice,  or  add  another  hue 

Unto  the  rainbow,  or  with  taper  light 

To  seek  the  beauteous  eye  of  heaven  to  garnish, 

Is  wasteful  and  ridiculous  excess." 

And  I  really  think  that  to  make  a  speech,  considering  those  who  have  gone 
before  and  the  distinguished  gentleman  who  is  to  follow,  is  also  "wasteful  and  ridicu- 
lous excess." 

On  the  4th  day  of  March,  1801,  Thomas  Jefferson  delivered  an  inaugural  which 
has  become  a  classic  and  which,  if  I  had  my  way  about  it,  every  boy  and  girl  in  the 
United  States  should  commit  to  memory  as  a  literary  exercise  because,  among  h 
other  excellences,  he  wrote  the  best  English  of  any  man  that  ever  set 

25 


North  American  continent.  In  that  inaugural  he  laid  down  certain  principles  on 
which  this  Government  ought  to  be  conducted,  and  among  other  things  he  declared 
in  favor  of  "peace,  commerce  and  honest  friendship  with  all  nations,  entangling 
alliances  with  none ;"  and  that  has  been  the  mainspring  of  the  action  of  this  Republic 
toward  all  other  nations  from  that  day  until  this.  He  was  the  greatest  philosopher 
that  ever  devoted  his  life  to  politics,  and  my  judgment  about  it  is  that  if  he  had  not 
been  drawn  by  stress  of  circumstances  into  politics  he  would  have  devoted  his  life  to 
philosophy  and  would  have  ranked  in  that  great  field  of  human  endeavor  as  Sir  Isaac 
Newton,  the  discoverer  of  the  law  of  gravitation,  with  Lord  Bacon,  the  father  of 
inductive  philosophy,  with  Benjamin  Franklin,  the  great  American  philosopher. 

There  are  two  universally  admitted  standards  of  human  progress.  There  are 
a  great  many  other  standards,  about  which  there  is  some  dispute ;  but  the  two  there 
is  no  sort  of  dispute  about  are  increase  of  population  and  increase  of  wealth,  and 
if  the  population  of  the  Western  Hemisphere  and  the  total  wealth  of  the  Western 
Hemisphere  increase  in  the  next  no  years  at  the  rate  that  they  have  in  the  last  no 
years,  in  the  year  2020  one-half  of  all  the  people  on  the  earth's  surface  will  live  in 
the  Western  Hemisphere,  and  one-half  of  all  the  wealth  will  be  in  the  Western 
Hemisphere.  So,  we  are  pioneers  here  today  in  the  great  effort  to  get  together  and  to 
help  each  other.  True,  it  is  a  commercial  enterprise ;  the  establishment  of  the  Bureau 
of  the  Pan  American  Republics  wras  a  great  performance ;  the  selection  of  my  friend, 
John  Barrett,  as  Director  General  of  that  Union  was  another  great  performance.  I 
take  a  good  deal  of  stock  in  Barrett.  The  change  in  the  name  from  The  Bureau  of 
American  Republics  to  The  Pan  American  Union  was  a  fortunate  incident. 

There  is  no  politics  in  this  meeting,  either  national  or  international.  You 
gentlemen  are  here  to  devise  ways  and  means  to  increase  the  trade  between  these 
countries,  and  the  statesmen  and  politicians,  whichever  you  please  to  call  us,  always 
remembering  the  Hon.  Thomas  B.  Reed's  celebrated  saying  that  "a  statesman  is  a 
successful  politician  who  is  dead."  But  I  get  a  good  deal  of  satisfaction  even  out  of 
that  declaration,  because,  reading  history,  I  note  that  some  of  us  who  are  now  de- 
nounced and  talked  about  as  mere  politicians,  by  succeeding  generations  will  be 
ranked  as  statesmen.  Now,  just  exactly  which  of  us  that  is  going  to  happen  to  I 
do  not  know,  but  politicians,  or  statesmen,  whichever  you  please  to  term  us,  are 
here  to  give  you  encouragement,  to  help  along.  We  do  not  know  as  much  about 
exports  and  imports  and  manufactures  as  Mr.  Farrell,  the  President  of  the  United 
States  Steel  Corporation,  who  has  just  addressed  you,  and  as  a  good  many  of  you 
do,  but  \ve  have  a  general  idea  about  it,  and  we  are  willing  to  help ;  and  if  we  cannot 
do  anything  else,  we  are  willing  to  encourage  you  by  our  presence. 

When  I  was  a  boy,  back  in  the  hill  country  of  Kentucky,  I  knew  an  old,  rough- 
and-ready  country  doctor  who  said  that  "the  most  sensitive  nerve  in  the  human 
anatomy  is  the  nerve  leading  to  the  pocketbook;"  and  I  believe  that  is  true,  and  I 
believe  that  a  vast  amount  of  good  comes  out  of  this  Bureau  and  its  efforts  to  get 
together  closer  commercially,  and  every  movement  of  this  kind  is  for  the  benefit  of 
the  human  race,  and  I  believe  that  this  Union  and  the  Hague  Peace  Tribunal  will 
finally  put  an  end  to  war  among  civilized  nations;  and  that  is  another  thing  most 
worthy  of  striving  for. 

ADDRESS  OF  THE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 
HON.  WILLIAM  H.  TAFT 

Director  General  Barrett  then  introduced  the  President  of  the 
United  States. 

President  Taft  said: 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  came  here  to  listen  and  not  to  talk,  but  there  are 
some  things  that  force  themselves  on  a  man's  intelligence  in  a  significant  meeting 
like  this.  This  meeting  and  many  which  are  to  follow  mark  the  wisdom  and  the 
benefit  of  the  generosity  which  made  such  a  building  as  this  possible.  We  are  all 
affected  by  externals,  and  when  one  comes  into  a  hall  like  this,  as  I  did  the  other 
day,  and  found  it  unoccupied,  one  cannot  help  suggesting  to  Mr.  Barrett,  as  I  did, 
that  there  are  a  great  many  uses  that  its  ownership  tempted.  I  will  not  go  into  the 
list  of  things  that  I  thought  might  be  done  with  it,  because  they  might  seem  flippant 
and  hardly  dignified  as  compared  to  the  use  to  which  the  hall  is  now  being  put.  But 

26 


there  is  a  great  deal  in  giving  to  the  Pan  American  Union  a  local  habitation,  dignified 
and  beautiful  as  this  is,  and  offering  every  accommodation  for  a  convention  of  gen- 
tlemen^who  would  rather  meet  in  an  artistic  building  and  a  comfortable  building, 
like  this,  than  in  a  theater  or  some  other  cold  place  that  does  not  suggest  union  or 
harmony  or  anything  else — in  the  daytime,  at  least. 

The  object  of  this  meeting,  as  I  understand,  is  commercial.  It  is  to  give  to 
those  who  take  part  information  as  to  the  best  means  of  promoting  the  commercial 
relations  and  increasing  the  commerce  bet\yeen  the  United  States  and  the  other 
members  of  the  Latin  American  Union.  I  listened  with  a  great  deal  of  interest  to 
Mr.  Farrell's  paper — listened  with  interest  to  the  statement  made  by  him  that  the 
criticisms  which  I  had  heard  made  of  American  merchants  and  manufacturers  were 
not  justified.  I  .had  understood — and  I  rather  thought  there  was  something  to  it — 
it  may  be  that  American  manufacturers  are  getting  over  it  now — that  they  felt  so 
much  pleased  with  their  work  and  were  so  confident  of  being  able  to  live  without 
going  outside  of  America  and  the  United  States,  that  they  did  not  fit  their  products 
to  the  tastes  and  desires  of  other  countries,  and  that  they  said  that  if  other  countries 
did  not  like  our  goods  they  could  be  sold  at  home,  and  so  were  not  troubled  about  it. 

We  are  changing  from  a  country  that  raises  agricultural  products  and  exports 
them  to  the  world,  to  a  country  that  in  the  near  future,  unless  our  production  of 
agriculture  increases,  will  become  a  food-consuming  country,  and  will  depend  upon 
our  manufactures  for  our  export  trade.  When  we  reach  that  point,  I  hope  that 
the  American  ingenuity  and  the  American  desire  to  succeed  in  trade  will  fit  our 
products  so  that  they  will  attract  those  to  whom  we  wish  to  sell  more  than  the 
products  of  the  other  nations  will  attract  those  same  people.  I  have  confidence  in 
our  business  ingenuity  and  business  enterprise  and  business  industry  to  believe  that 
when  we  are  face  to  face  with  the  facts  we  can  meet  them ;  and  I  think  it  would  be 
wise  for  us  to  anticipate  that  time  and  learn,  as  such  a  meeting  as  this  will  teach,  of 
the  things  that  those  desire  who  live  in  the  other  countries  with  whom  we  foster 
commercial  relations,  because  it  is  the  purchaser  that  has  the  option  to  say  what  he 
wishes  to  buy ;  it  is  not  for  the  manufacturer  to  say  what  he  wishes  to  sell ;  that  is, 
if  the  manufacturer  desires  to  go  into  the  selling  business  at  all. 

It  is  true  we  ought  to  have  banks  in  South  America,  and  we  ought  to  have 
lines  of  steamships  carrying  our  freight.  Just  how  we  are  going  to  get  those  two 
things,  some  of  us  differ.  The  last  speaker  and  I  have  gotten  together  on  one  plank 
of  a  platform.  We  are  both  rather  heavy  men,  and  I  hope  it  will  support  us.  But 
I  do  not  know  how  many  other  planks  will.  It  is  a  great  pleasure  to  be  with  him 
in  the  promotion  of  trade  in  any  part  of  the  world.  He  is  in  favor  of  reciprocity 
agreements  with  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  so  am  I.  But  that  does  not  help  very 
much  to  a  definite  agreement  of  reciprocity  in  the  case  of  any  one  nation  upon  which 
we  can  agree.  We  will  all  vote  for  honesty  and  bravery  and  courage  and  all  the 
other  virtues  with  unanimity,  and  we  will  vote  for  wise  measures  so  characterized 
in  favor  of  commerce,  but  when  it  comes  to  determine  what  those  wise  measures 
are  or  what  measures  are  wise,  then  is  the  difficulty.  But  Mr.  Clark  and  I,  in  antici- 
pation of  his  coming  to  be  the  head  of  the  great  popular  branch  of  the  legislature, 
have  at  least  got  together  on  one  very  important  matter,  and  I  hope  we  can  carry 
it  through. 

Commercial  relations  form  the  subject  of  this  meeting.  The  relations  of  peace, 
the  political  relations  between  the  countries,  are  not  under  its  especial  consideration, 
but  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  the  promotion  of  commercial  relations  necessarily 
brings  about  closer  political  and  closer  social  relations  between  nations,  and  makes 
much  less  likely  the  hostility  and  the  hard  feelings  that  are  likely  to  lead  to  war. 
It  may  be  that  the  promotion  of  such  relations  as  a  means  of  promoting  peace  is 
through  that  nerve  of  the  pocketbook  to  which  Mr.  Clark  referred,  but  that  does  not 
make  any  difference.  Any  means  of  promoting  peace  that  is  consistent  with  honor 
and  principle,  we  ought  to  promote,  and  promote  gladly. 

The  union  of  the  Latin-American  Republics  has  in  very  recent  years  shown 
the  possibility  of  bringing  to  bear  upon  countries  that  were  disposed  to  resort  to  war 
the  effect  of  the  public  opinion — international  public  opinion — of  21  countries  united 
for  the  purpose  of  keeping  the  peace.  And  I  have  no  doubt  that  as  our  commercial 
relations  become  closer,  as  the  method  through  The  Hague  Tribunal  and  by  direct 
negotiation  for  the  prevention  of  war  becomes  better  understood,  the  union  in  this 
hemisphere  of  all  these  countries  will  be  an  example  to  the  entire  world  of  what  can 
be  done  by  international  union  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  peace. 

27 


AREA  3,745,574-  SQ.MILES 
POPULATION  5, 37 1.3 1>5 


C.POSLAD.A. 
y//////////////. 

IMPORTS  *309,75&,GQS 
EXPORTS  *ZLG1,51Z,,153 
TOTAL    *57L,ZG8,7&7 


ARSA-3.0SG.7S9  SQ.MILES 
POPULATION -3 1.37 S.. 2. GG 


STATES 


UNI    E.D 


JE.  COMMENCE  W1THLRTIN  AMERICA 
£  IMPORTS 

EXPORTS 


COMMERCE  WIR  THE  WORLD  J\r0 
IMPORTS-*  1,557,313,388  ^ 
EXPORTS  *  1,244, 384-, 720^ 

TOTAL  *  a.aoz.att-.iaa 


AREA  7GZOOO  34MIUS 
ULKTION  15,063,  E07 


AJ5SA  1  0.200  SQ.KI5 
POTDLATIQN  2,000,000 


n,OQ8,4B3 
TOTAL,*1&,12Q,396 


ARIA  49.200  SQ.MLS. 
POPULATION  SOO.OOO 
I,M70R7S*£S5e,B78 
EXPORTS  3,447,984 
TQTAL*G,60f.-.B6E 


48,230 SQ.MLS. 
POT  ULM10K  139^,000 
IMPORTS*  S.&51.311 
EXFOSZTS  10,073,213 


THE  BOUNDARIES  OF  THECOUHTRIE5  AS 
SHOWN  2>Y  THE  DI?TERLKT  SHADIKGS 
ARE  UNOFFICIAL, THE,  PDRPOSi:  BEIKG 
SIMPLY  TO  GLYZ,  AU  APTRQXINATE, 
IDEA  OF  TMIR  GENERAL  LOCATIOK. 


AREA  393,37GSQ.MLS 
POPULATION  E,SS*,241 


ATJEA  438,436 . 

POPULATION  4.2ZO.OQQ 


AKEA  3,218,130  SQ.MtLE,S 
POPULftTlQM  SO,S1S,QOO 


EXPORTS  SOS,  331, 82.9 
TOTAL      *4-Qa,02.1,S54 


AREA  708.19S-SQ.ML5. 
POPULATION  E£67,93S 


BOLIVIA 

IMPORTS  *14,774,T  7  & 
EXPORTS    Z2,70Z^ 
TOTAL,    *  37,477,  5  01 


ATJEA  1,135,840  SQ.MIL1S 
"ULATIOK  £,989.023 


EXPORTS  110,314,767 
TftT AT   4 9 


ARGENTINA 

MPORTS*2>02,756,095 
XPORT3   597.350,528  ,nwlTr 
TOTAL    *700.10S.SZ2^SS 

I  II  II  II  II  II 


AREA  72.Z103Q.MLS. 
K  1,11Z,QOO 
38.543.03S 


\POTULATIOK  1,11Z,QOO 
1MT07TS*3 


ATSA  E91.500  SQ.M 
POPULATIOK  3,Z/J9,E79 
IMPORTS  «34,343,79£ 


THL  BOUNDARIES  OF  THE  COUNTRIES  AS 
SHOWN.  BY  THE  DIFTEREUT  SHADIHGS 
ARE  UNOFFICIAL,  THE,  PURPOSE  BEIKG 
SIMPLY  TO  GIVE,  AN.  APPROXIMATE, 
IDEA  OF  THEIR  GENERAL  LOCATIOK, 


PAH  AME.RIC  AH  UNION 


«*' 


<f> 


TUESDAY,  FEBRUARY  14— MORNING  SESSION 

The  Conference  was  called  to  order  at  9.55  o'clock  A.  M.  by  the 
Director  General. 

Director  General  BARRETT  said : 

Gentlemen:  I  am  very  glad  to  welcome  you  here  this  morning,  after  the 
brilliant  start  that  we  had  here  yesterday  afternoon.  Those  were  indeed  fireworks, 
and  ,they  did  a  great  deal  of  illuminating.  This  morning  we  hope  to  get  down  to  a 
little  more  of  the  practical  side.  You  have  noticed,  if  you  have  looked  carefully 
at  the  program,  that  the  regulations  for  this  Conference  are  very  few,  but  certain 
ones  there  are  which  we  must  follow. 

On  the  second  page  of  the  printed  matter  it  is  stated  "The  Conference  being 
called  upon  invitation  of  the  executive  officer  of  the  Pan  American  Union,  will 
have  no  organization  beyond  that  of  the  presiding  officer  designated  by  him."  Also, 
"That  addresses  will  be  limited  to  ten  minutes  each  to  the  person  leading  the 
discussion.  Remarks  of  others  amplifying  the  discussion  will  be  limited  to  five 
minutes  each."  That  is  for  the  purpose  of  getting  as  full  a  discussion  as  possible. 
"Following  each  principal  address,  questions  may  be  generally  asked,  to  be  con- 
sidered by  those  ready  or  competent  to  do  so."  I  want  to  say,  in  that  connection, 
that  we  have  posted  a  question  box  below,  in  which  we  would  like  to  have  persons 
put  questions  that  can  be  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  Conference  or  those  com- 
petent to  answer.  "It  will  not  be  permitted  to  introduce,  discuss  or  pass  any 
resolutions  affecting  the  attitude  or  policies  of  governments.  Adverse  comment 
also  upon  governments  forming  the  Union  will  be  out  of  order." 

Now,  you  can  see  the  necessity  of  this.  With  the  majority  of  Conferences 
the  time  has  been  taken  up  in  discussing  whether  the  Conference  will  endorse  a 
certain  political  policy  or  not,  causing  at  once  those  difficulties,  troubles  and  acer- 
bities of  debate  which  are  unfortunate  and  take  up  a  great  deal  of  time;  and  as  we 
here  are  the  guests,  as  it  were,  of  the  21  countries,  we  would  be  in  very  deep  water 
at  once  if  we  were  to  attempt  to  take  up  policies  or  politics. 

We  are  here  for  the  consideration  of  practical  conditions  surrounding  the 
exchange  of  trade  between  North  and  South  America  as  they  are  met  in  the  effort 
to  develop  the  trade  of  our  country  with  the  countries  of  the  south  or  those  coun- 
tries with  us.  This  morning  I  am  going  to  start  our  program  with  a  talk  by  one 
of  the  most  practical  men  in  our  consular  service,  a  man  who  has  done  remarkable 
work  at  the  different  positions  he  has  held  in  Central  America,  in  Colombia  and  in 
Venezuela,  a  man  who  will  be  glad  to  answer  questions,  a  man  who  has  studied 
very  carefully  the  conditions  controlling  the  effort  to  build  up  trade  with  Latin 
America,  and  this  man  is  Isaac  A.  Manning,  United  States  Consul  at  La  Guaira, 

Venezuela. 

%  i 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  ISAAC  A.  MANNING,  U.  S.  CONSUL 
AT  LA  GUAIRA  VENEZUELA 

Mr.  MANNING  Said: 

Mr.  Director  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Pan  American  Conference:  It  is  useless 
for  me  to  express  the  pleasure  or  the  high  honor  that  I  feel  in  being  permitted  to 
address  you  for  a  few  moments  on  the  subject  of  our  trade  relations  between 
the  countries  that  form  the  Pan  American  Union.  The  Latin  American  Republics 
and  this  great  republic  of  ours  here  in  the  North  should  certainly  be  more  closely 
united  commercially  than  they  are  at  present,  because  of  the  many  reasons  known  to 
all  of  you.  But,  as  my  subject  this  morning  has  to  deal  more  directly  with  relations 
existing  between  the  countries  of  Venezuela,  Colombia  and  the  United  States,  where 
I  digress  from  this  main  subject  you  will  understand  that  it  is  done  with  a  view 
to  calling  your  attention  to  such  things  as  may  bear  the  same  relation  to  all  the  rest 
of  South  America  in  our  trade  program. 

The  territory  which  has  been  assigned  me  as  the  subject  of  my  talk,  and 
regarding  the  trade  of  which  I  am  expected  to  give  you  some  idea,  is  so  great  in 
extent  that  it  is  worthy  of  far  more  time  than  I  will  be  permitted  to  devote  thereto. 
The  whole  of  Europe  (leaving  out  Russia  and  France)  could  be  set  down  within 
the  boundaries  of  the  two  Republics  of  Colombia  and  Venezuela,  and  they  have 

30 


four  times  the  area  of  the  State  of  Texas  and  form  a  territory  200,000  square  miles 
greater  in  extent  than  that  part  of  the  United  States  lying  east  of  the  Father  of 
Waters.  Lying  as  they  do  almost  under  the  Equator,  I  know  that  the  average  person 
in  fault  of  practical  knowledge,  imagines  this  as  a  burnt-up,  uninhabitable,  inhospi- 
table region,  hot,  miasmatic,  sickly.  Yet  in  Venezuela  and  Colombia  one  will  find 
climates  as  varied,  if  not  as  variable,  as  in  North  America.  There  are  regions  of 
severe  heat  and  others  of  perpetual  snow  within  their  boundaries.  The  greater 
portion  of  Colombia  and  Venezuela,  however,  consists  of  plateaus  where  the  climate 
is  more  or  less  that  of  continual  spring  in  the  temperate  zone. 

Here  you  find  a  country  where  may  be  produced  every  product  of  the  earth, 
from  those  of  the  hottest  tropical  to  the  most  desolate  ice-clad  regions  of  the  poles! 
A  country  so  rich  in  agriculture  and  horticulture,  that  every  grain  and  fruit  of  the 
United  States  will  grow  there,  and  in  addition  many  others  which  to  our  climates 
are  unknown ;  whose  mineral  deposits  are  so  extensive  that  the  actual  known  output 
of  gold  since  the  Spanish  conquerors  first  discovered  the  yellow  metal  in  New  Spain 
has  exceeded  one  thousand  millions  of  dollars,  without  apparently  the  workers 
having  scratched  the  surface;  where  coal,  iron,  copper,  petroleum  and  asphalt 
abound;  where  platinum,  emeralds  and  pearls  are  articles  of  constant  export;  whose 
great  expanse  of  territory  is  drained  by  thousands  of  miles  of  navigable  streams, 
and  whose  coast  lines  reach  two  oceans,  and  extending  nearly  the  full  length  of  the 
Caribbean  Sea,  are  of  almost  2500  miles  in  length. 

This  is  simply  a  suggestion  of  what  is  Colombia  and  Venezuela. 

A  commercial  review  of  Colombia  and  Venezeula  would  be  almost  identical 
with  that  of  Central  America  and  the  greater  part  of  Mexico.  The  exportable  prod- 
ucts of  all  are  more  or  less  the  same.  Colombia  has  its  side  lines  of  ivory  nuts 
and  jipijapa  hats,  while  Mexico  has  its  chicle  and  fibers  and  Venezuela  its  Tonca 
beans.  The  main  products  of  all  are  coffee,  cocoa,  fruits,  hides  and  rubber,  and  the 
demands  of  the  people  are  largely  based  on  these  branches  of  agriculture.  There  is 
some  mineral  development,  but  it  has  suffered  neglect  in  recent  years  and  in  just 
comparison  with  the  resources  yet  uncovered,  it  is  nothing  at  present.  Manufac- 
turing for  export,  there  is  none,  so  we  get  back  to  the  fact  that  agriculture  is  the 
basis  of  their  stability  and  the  present  principal  source  of  their  wealth  and  pur- 
chasing power. 

This  opens  up  the  range  of  vision  and  brings  us  to  the  first  question :  If 
agriculture  forms  their  commercial  basis,  is  that  basis  as  firm  as  it  might  be?  Are 
the  farmers  or  the  orchardists  getting  the  results  they  should  ?  In  what  way  might 
their  agricultural  practice  be  improved,  and  what  is  the  duty,  or  wherein  lies  the 
interest,  of  the  manufacturer,  importer  or  exporter  of  the  United  States  in  this 
connection  ? 

In  most  of  the  agricultural  districts  of  Colombia  and  Venezuela  the  imple- 
ments in  use  and  the  practice  are  of  the  most  anciently  primitive.  This  is  true  in 
the  matter  of  cleaning  of  land,  planting,  cultivation  and  harvest.  Such  a  thing  as 
ridding  new  ground  of  stumps  of  trees,  and  breaking  it  with  a  plow  to  prepare  for 
seeding,  is  rarely  seen,  and  cultivation  is  confined  to  cutting  down  the  weeds. 

One  reason  for  this  is  that  the  value  of  newer  methods  and  of  the  use  of 
modern  implements  has  never  been  demonstrated.  The  thought  that  two  blades  of 
grass  may  be  produced  where  only  one  is  found  now  has  not  been  presented  to  the 
Colombian  and  Venezuelan  farmer.  In  this  our  manufacturers  of  modern  imple- 
ments and  machinery  have  not  made  use  of  their  opportunities.  Here  is  where, 
long  ere  this,  they  should  have  made  practical  demonstration  of  the  uses  of  their 
products  and  of  the  adaptability  thereof  to  the  conditions  in  those  countries,  and 
this  same  thing  is  true  of  most  lines  of  American  manufacture — they  all  lack 
demonstration. 

Let  us  look,  for  example,  at  the  growers  of  sugar  cane.  With  thousands  of 
acres  of  excellent  cane,  the  great  bulk  thereof  is  ground  between  wooden  rollers, 
which  save  but  a  low  percentage  of  the  juice.  The  juices  are  boiled  in  deep  earthen 
pots,  and  molded  into  cones  or  cakes,  in  the  form  of  the  crudest  sugar  known. 
Many  of  these  cane  growers  are  wealthy  enough  and  harvest  enough  cane  to  war- 
rant "the  establishment  of  up-to-date  mills  with  vacuum  pans  and  other  parapher- 
nalia necessary  to  the  manufacture  of  good  sugar.  They  have  not  put  in  such 
plants  for  reasons  quite  obvious;  no  one  has  demonstrated  to  them  the  profit  that 
would  accrue  by  the  use  of  these  more  efficient  methods.  What  they  know  they 
learned  from  their  fathers,  and  none  others  have  gone  near  them  to  show  them 
better  methods. 

31 


•  If  this  is  the  case  among  the  sugar  cane  growers,  are  not  the  same  things 
apt  to  be  true  of  the  growers  of  other  products?  Surely! 

I  have  seen  home-made  pulping  machines  in  use  in  coffee  plantations  where 
the  crop  was  sufficient  to  bear  the  expense  of  good  machinery.  1^  have  seen  the 
machete  in  use  where  a  hoe,  a  modern  plow,  a  scythe,  a  brush  hoo'k,  an  axe  or  a 
saw  would  have  been  far  better,  and  in  every  way  a  more  effective  implement  for 
the  work. 

One  will  find  the  farmer  cutting  down  weeds  in  his  corn  field  and  cotton 
witji  a  machete  where  the  modern  corn  and  cotton  grower  uses  a  plow  or  cultivator. 
The  work  of  the  machete  simply  matts  the  roots  of  the  weeds  and  gives  them  a 
better  hold ;  while  that  of  the  plow  or  cultivator  works  to  destroy  them. 

Why  then  cannot  you  plow  manufacturers  sell  these  implements  in  Venezuela 
or  Colombia  or  Central  America  and  thus  help  replace  their  low  grade  hand  work 
with  intenser  cultivation  under  animal  power? 

As  to  why  these  implements  have  not  come  into  use  there  are  various  rea- 
sons— and  here  not  only  the  plow  manufacturers,  but  other  allied  trades  are  inter- 
ested. First,  the  Colombian  and  Venezuelan  farmer  knows  nothing  about  the  use 
of  the  plow  or  cultivator.  He  must  be  taught  that  and  so  must  his  hired  help. 
Then  his  draft  animals  are  oxen,  and  he  has  found  no  way  of  successfully  harness- 
ing them  except  in  a  double  team,  with  a  yoke  tied  to  the  horns.  He  has  never 
broken  the  small  horses  or  mules  to  draft  work  because  he  can  get  no  harness  to  fit 
them.  A  few  who  have  essayed  this  experiment,  based  on  your  handsomely  illus- 
trated catalogues,  have  ordered  plow  and  harness,  but  the  latter  made  for  an  animal 
of  the  size  of  a  United  States  army  mule  or  a  Percheron  horse  finally  did  service 
as  an  ornament  in  the  shed  until  the  straps  were  stolen  or  put  to  some  other  uses. 

Now  this  brings  me  to  the  point  I  wish  to  make.  Trade  expansion  is  de- 
pendent on  more  than  "hands  across  the  water."  It  depends  on  the  purchasing 
power  of  the  parties  and  on  their  necessities.  Increase  their  necessities  by  giving 
them  new  ideas,  thus  creating  new  necessities.  Show  our  neighbors  to  the  south 
the  utility  of  your  modern  implements  and  machinery;  how  they  can  be  applied  to 
their  conditions,  and  you  will  increase  their  demands  by  that  much,  and  as  they 
develop  their  agriculture  their  purchasing  power  will  as 'steadily  increase. 

As  to  the  manner  of  extending  this  trade,  of  bringing  those  new  implements 
and  new  ideas  to  the  people  of  Colombia  and  Venezuela,  you  will  have  to  do  as  you 
had  to  do  with  your  own  kind  in  the  West,  the  South  and  other  parts  of  the 
United  States. 

Let  some  active,  rustling,  commercial  agent,  up  on  modern  methods  and 
modern  machines  and  implements,  take  time  to  visit  a  lot  of  these  farms  and  sug- 
gest improvements;  men  able  to  tell  of  the  cost,  value,  etc.  Can  you  not  see  the 
results?  How  many  a  housewife  of  this  country  did  all  her  sewing  by  hand  until 
some  active  sewing  machine  agent  opened  her  eyes  to  her  absolute  need  of  a  sewing 
machine  ?  And  that  was  but  a  few  years  ago !  In  fact,  it  was  but  a  few  years  ago 
that  farm  machinery  and  what  we  are  pleased  to  call  up-to-date  methods  were 
strangers  to  the  farmer  of  the  United  States.  He  was  taught  their  uses  and  appli- 
cation by  demonstration,  and  was  induced  to  buy  on  personal  solicitation.  Wrhen 
the  American  farmer  had  to  undergo  that  transition  period,  can  you  expect  to  sell 
the  South  American  farmer  these  things  without  showing  him  also  ?  He  is  as 
much  of  a  Missourian  as  any  of  you.  But  once  shown,  you  can  have  his  money. 
Many  a  Venezuelan  or  Colombian  would  establish  power  plants  and  mills  on  his 
property  if  he  could  see  what  he  wants.  Many  of  them  fail  to  realize  now  that 
they  want  these  things.  They  must  be  taught  this.  You  American  manufacturers 
should  have  your  goods  on  sale,  or  at  least  samples  on  inspection,  in  those  countries. 
Send  these  out  on  consignment  and  give  some  one  a  chance  to  present  your  goods. 

I  know  the  way  you  have  felt  about  the  consignment  business.  You  have 
asked  the  foreign  merchant  to  please  send  you  a  consignment  of  real  money  first, 
and  then  you  have  condescended  to  return  him  a  reasonable  equivalent  in  some  line 
of  American  goods,  with  all  the  possible  commissions  added.  Discounts  have  even 
been  turned  into  commissions  on  some  .of  your  shipments  on  consignment. 

Not  long  ago  I  heard  of  a  case  of  a  reliable  merchant  in  South  America 
who  ordered  a  sample  of  some  new  machine  for  trial,  to  see  if  it  could  be  used  in 
his  trade,  and  the  American  manufacturer  was  so  pleased  at  getting  the  order  that 
he  charged  the  merchant  the  regular  retail  price  for  the  machine  with  commissions 
added  to  that. 

32 


That  certainly  is  not  the  way  to  extend  your  business. 

Fix  in  your  mind  one  thing  as  the  principle  of  South  American  business 
and  immediately  disabuse  your  mind  of  any  idea  to  the  contrary.  South  America's 
merchants  are  bright  business  men,  capable,  careful,  commercially  trustworthy  and 
reliable.  They  are  open  for  new  business  and  new  ideas,  and  will  help  you  to 
introduce  new  goods,  but  they  rightly  think  the  risk  of  establishing  new  fabrics 
should  be  more  equally  divided  between  the  exporting  manufacturer  and  the  im- 
porting merchant  than  your  old-fashioned  demands  for  cash  in  advance  provides. 

You  must  send  your  samples  and  demonstrate  them,  and  orders  can  be 
gotten  for  anything  as  a  result  of  that  kind  of  work.  Of  the  thousands  of  dollars 
spent  in  useless  catalogues,  why  not  divert  a  part  at  least  to  sending  out  commer- 
cial travelers  with  samples?  And  in  this  I  refer  to  manufacturers  of  all  lines  of 
American  goods.  For  it  is  not  machinery  alone  that  you  want  to  sell  to  the  South. 
Every  other  line  of  manufacture  is  taken  in  a  more  or  less  considerable  quantity, 
and  the  manufacturers  and  merchants  of  the  United  States  are  behind  their  European 
competitors  for  the  reasons  set  forth  above,  and  because  you  fail  to  demonstrate 
your  goods  in  the  open  markets  of  Colombia  and  Venezuela. 

Here  is  the  evidence  of  this :  In  1908  the  United  States  took  $6,845.000  out 
of  $15,142,000,  and  in  1909  $6,299,000  out  of  $16,620,000  of  Venezuela's  exports,  or 
about  40  per  cent.  During  the  same  years  the  United  States  sold  Venezuela  $2,525,- 
ooo  out  of  $10,170,000,  and  in  1909  $3,265,000  out  of  $10,120,000  of  imports  into  that 
country,  or  only  25  per  cent.  Now  that  proportion  was  not  reciprocal.  And  the 
same  was  true  of  Colombia,  which  in .  the  year  1908  exported  to  all  countries 
$14,998,734  and  imported  $13,515,000.  Of  principal  exports  from  Colombia  in  1906-7, 
valued  at  $14,382,000,  the  United  States  took  $9,516,920,  $7,720,875  of  which  was 
coffee,  a  non-revenue  paying  import.  Nearly  all  we  take  from  Venezuela  is  non- 
revenue  paying  and  most  of  what  we  take  from  Colombia.  In  fact,  the  only  dutiable 
product  of  either  country  worth  speaking  of  imported  into  the  United  States  is 
the  "Panama"  hat  and  the  banana,  both  from  Colombia.  Under  our  tariff  condi- 
tions it  would  seem  we  ought  to  export  them  more  of  their  purchases.  But  one 
who  has  been  through  those  countries  and  has  studied  trade  conditions  immediately 
comprehends  why  we  have  failed  to  get  what  we  feel  we  should  of  their  trade. 

I  know  it  has  been  said  that  England  and  Germany  sell  goods  cheaper;  they 
also  sell  cheaper  goods.  This  is  not  the  reason.  It  has  also  been  declared  that  Ger- 
many, England,  France,  Spain  and  Italy  give  long  time  credits.  Now  that  depends  on 
what  you  call  long  time  credits.  The  ordinary  credits  are  from  ninety  to  one  hundred 
and  eighty  days,  and  that  it  not  a  long  period  of  credit  in  any  agricultural  country.  I 
remember  when  I  was  a  boy  in  the  West  the  ordinary  country  merchant  carried  his 
corn  and  wheat  producing  customers  for  a  year  and  took  the  crop  for  his  pay;  and 
the  wholesaler  carried  the  country  merchant  the  same  way.  Some  few  of  those 
country  merchants  may  now  and  did  then  discount  their  bills.  A  great  many  of  the 
South  American  merchants  discount  their  bills  today.  But  they  like  the  compliment 
of  the  privilege  of  doing  so  at  least,  and  do  not  like  to  be  told  to  "stand  and  deliver" 
before  forwarding  them  goods.  This  is  part  of  the  reason.  Their  credit  is  good  in 
Europe  because  they  pay  their  bills.  The  same  reason  should  make  it  good  in  the 
United  States.  Our  manufacturers  have  been  sitting  idly  by  and  waiting  for  the 
trade  to  come  to  them.  They  evidently  do  not  realize  how  much  it  is  worth  having 
and  therefore  worth  going  after.  They  want  orders  from  their  South  American 
neighbors,  and  if  their  orders  come  accompanied  by  the  cash  and  do  not  entail  some 
departure  from  their  ancient  customs  in  packing,  manifesting,  etc.,  perhaps  the  manu- 
facturer will  let  some  commission  house  ship  the  goods.  But  wide-awake  North 
American  firms,  prepared  to  go  abroad  "gunning"  for  business,  are  entirely  too 
rare. 

Since  April  24,  1909,  I  have  had  about  700  inquiries  from  manufacturers  and 
merchants  of  the  United  States  as  to  opportunities  in  Venezuela.  During  the  same 
period  I  have  met  very  few  travelers,  including  one  man  representing  a  large  electric 
manufacturing  company,  three  or  four  representing  exchange  and  commission  houses 
in  New  York;  one  working  with  catalogues  of  furniture,  jewelry  and  three  or  four 
side  lines  (but  no  samples)  ;  a  representative  of  the  shoe  machinery  trust,  whose 
idea  is  to  rent  machines  in  the  country,  and  a  few  others;  but  only  one  American 
dry  goods  or  cotton  goods  man,  and  he  had  two  telescope  valises  full  of  samples 
of  prints. 

During  the  same  period  English,  French,  German  and  Spanish  travelers  have 
visited  the  countries  of  which  I  speak  prepared  to  sell  goods  from  samples,  for  the 

33 


display  of  which  many  of  them  required  several  good-sized  sample  rooms. 

The  American  travelers  who  have  visited  these  Republics  have  done  business, 
but  not  what  they  should  have  done.  Most  of  them  are  too  "skimpy"  of  their  time. 
Many  of  them  have  no  knowledge  of  the  language  and  less  of  the  commercial  habits 
and  customs  of  the  country.  What  is  needed  is  special  instruction  in  the  schools 
of  this  country  in  the  Spanish  language,  Spanish-American  geography,  history  and 
social  and  commercial  customs,  with  post-graduate  schools  for  commercial  prepara- 
tion. At  the  end  of  a  year  or  two  after  establishment  of  these,  you  who  are  inter- 
ested might  have  a  few  young  men  from  whom  to  draw  at  least  the  nucleus  of  the 
army  of  South  American  trade  expansionists  which  you  are  sure  to  require  within  a 
short  time,  for  it  is  useless  for  you  to  send  commercial  travelers  to  South  America 
who  cannot  speak  the  Spanish  language. 

I  have  given  you  an  idea  that  the  gross  value  of  foreign  business  in  the  two 
Republics  is  fifty  millions  of  dollars  per  annum;  I  have  told  you  that  of  the  exports 
from  Colombia  and  Venezuela  we  are  the  principal  recipients,  and  that  in  competitive 
imports  into  them  we  are  far  in  arrears.  Let  me  explain  this  a  little  further.  For 
example,  in  the  line  of  manufactured  cottons  we,  the  greatest  producers  of  cotton, 
sell  Venezuela  and  Colombia  less  then  ten  per  cent,  of  their  purchases.  This  pro- 
portion can  easily  be  increased  by  careful  attention  to  the  trade,  but  only  in  this 
manner.  European  manufacturers  have  this  field,  because  they  have  made  the 
endeavor.  Their  travelers  go  to  the  countries  with  full  lines  of  samples ;  the  mer- 
chants buy  of  them  because  they  know  what  they  are  going  to  get.  Let  our  cotton 
manufacturers  put  capable  travelers  in  the  field,  with  as  complete  lines  of  samples, 
and  there  is  no  reason  why  American  cotton  goods  cannot  more  than  meet  the 
European  competition. 

The  average  buyer  wants  to  see  what  he  is  going  to  get,  the  same  as  does 
the  average  home  merchant,  and  so  long  as  the  cotton  manufacturers  of  the  United 
States  or  the  cotton  goods  jobbers  fail  to  show  samples,  so  long  will  our  trade  in 
manufactured  cotton  with  our  southern  neighbors  be  our  disgrace. 

In  the  cotton  goods  trade  it  is  not  so  much  that  our  goods  are  too  high 
grade.  We  should  have  some  cheaper  lines,  and  we  might  meet  the  European  com- 
petition by  doing  what  these  competitors  do ;  split  some  of  our  wider  cotton  goods, 
providing  a  cheap  yardage,  by  saving  the  extra  expense  of  the  selvage.  But  there 
are  other  causes  for  our  small  sales.  In  any  line  of  foreign  trade  the  manufacturers 
and  jobbers  of  the  United  States  must  make  up  their  minds  to  meet  European  manu- 
facturers and  jobbers  on  their  own  ground.  You  are  too  late  on  the  field  of  battle 
to  lay  out  its  plan.  The  European  has  done  that,  and  your  battle  will  have  to  be 
fought  along  his  lines  now,  whether  you  like  it  or  not.  You  cannot  compete  with 
a  trade  that  takes  advantage  of  every  little  trick  possible  to  beat  you,  and  also  goes 
into  the  country  to  be  conquered  and  makes  the  fight  there  without  meeting  your 
competitor  at  his  every  point;  and  if  possible  by  introducing  some  new  tricks  that 
go  your  adversary  one  better.  One  complaint  cotton  goods  importers  of  Venezuela 
and  Colombia  make  is  that  there  are  in  American  cotton  fabrics  no  staple  lines  in 
which  they  can  have  repeat  orders  filled  as  they  can  in  Europe.  They  complain  that 
American  cotton  goods  manufacturers  fail  to  realize  that  there  is  a  large  trade  in 
South  America  which  calls  for  certain  staple  colors,  widths  and  weights  in  prints 
all  the  time.  These  people  have  bought  prints  in  certain  styles,  patterns  and  widths 
at  ten  cents  per  yard  so  long  that  they  would  not  know  how  to  change.  And  this 
trade  makes  up,  safely,  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  cotton  goods  purchases  of  not  only 
Colombia  and  Venezuela,  but  of  South  America,  and  amounts  in  round  numbers  to 
fifty  millions  of  dollars  per  annum  in  all  the  countries  of  that  continent.  For  this 
trade  England,  Germany,  France,  Spain  and  Italy  all  keep  looms  running  constantly 
weaving  these  staple  goods,  and  Mr.  Merchant  of  Caracas  or  Bogota  can  cable  for 
so  many  pieces  thereof  at  any  time,  knowing  that  the  order  will  be  filled  by  the 
next  steamer.  But  not  from  the  United  States.  Oh,  no !  Those  merchants  of 
Bogota  and  Caracas  don't  want  to  trade  our  way,  so  we  let  them  go  to  Europe 
where  things  are  as  they  are,  and  therefore  satisfactory  to  Mr.  Merchant. 

Now  the  other  South  American  class  who  buy  better  cotton  goods ;  could  and 
would  buy  your  fancy  patterns  even  with  their  kaleidoscopic  changes;  also  take 
fifty  million  dollars'  worth  of  cotton  manufactures  a  year.  Surely  the  American 
manufacturer  has  done  something  to  get  this  trade?  Eh?  What's  that?  You  only 
sell  South  America  five  per  cent,  of  her  total  import  of  cotton  goods?  Oh,  my! 
But  cotton  goods  is  not  the  only  line  we  are  failing  to  sell  in  Venezuela  and 
Colombia.  They  are  great  importers  of  wines,  and  I  have  yet  to  see  a  bottle  of 

34 


California  claret  or  other  wines  from  the  United  States  on  sale  in  either  country 
We  make  porcelain-ware  and  glassware  in  this  country,  but  Germany  sells  the  bulk 
of  these  two  articles  there.  Beer  and  empty  bottles  are  almost  all  supplied  from 
Germany,  and  liquors,  liqueurs  or  cordials,  generous  and  sparkling  wines,  for  all  of 
which  there  is  an  excellent  demand,  come  from  England,  France  and  Spain.  Ger- 
many exports  Danish  butter  of  good  quality,  in  tins,  and  it  finds  a  ready  sale 
Some  few  efforts  to  bring  in  American  butter  in  the  same  form  have  not  proven 
successful.  Yet  there  is  a  demand  for  butter — not  for  oleomargarine  or  other  imi- 
tations, and  it  is  up  to  the  American  manufacturers  to  fill  it. 

Hats,  men's  especially,  should  be  sold  from  the  United  States  to  Venezuela  and 
Colombia,  but  the  trade  must  be  gone  after.  It  is  not  being  overlooked  by  anyone 
wanting  to  sell  hats  except  the  "man  from  Danbury,"  and  other  towns  where  they 
make  them  in  the  United  States. 

Mirrors,  ribbons,  art  works,  silver  and  tinware,  linseed  oil,  oil  lamps,  nails, 
kitchen  utensils,  stoves  and  countless  other  things  are  in  the  same  category  as  those 
above.  The  trade  is  there,  ready  at  hand,  geographically  yours,  but  you  would  none 
of  it,  because  it  wanted  your  consideration  in  styles,  patterns,  attention  to  details 
of  packing  and  shipment,  and  you  had  no  time.  Now  it  is  get  in  and  fight  for  it  if 
you  would  have  it.  By  doing  so  you  can  get  it  yet,  but  do  not  expect  it  all  in  one 
year,  nor  from  one  visit  of  your  traveler — for  I  take  it  for  granted  now  that  you 
will  all  send  travelers  into  the  South  American  field. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Now,  gentlemen,  I  want  to  illustrate  the  prac- 
tical work  of  this  Conference.  I  desire  any  man  here  now  who  wants  to  ask  Mr. 
Manning  any  practical  question  to  do  so. 

MR.  S.  KRAUSZ,  Miehle  Printing  Press  Mfg.  Co.,  Chicago,  111. :  I  would  like  to 
know  especially,  the  proportion  of  illiterates  to  the  educated  class  of  the  public,  and  in 
what  way  it  affects  newspapers  and  the  printing  trade  in  general. 

MR.  MANNING  :  The  exact  proportion  I  cannot  give  you.  The  proportion  of 
the  illiterates,  of  course,  in  those  countries  is  very  large,  and  the  newspaper  trade  is 
confined  to  the  people  of  the  cities  more  generally.  In  the  city  of  Caracas — perhaps 
the  best  illustration  would  be  to  tell  you  this — in  the  city  of  Caracas  there  are  two 
principal  daily  newspapers,  El  Tiempo  and  El  Universal,  which  have  a  combined 
circulation  of  about  14,000  in  a  city  of  80,000  people,  but  they  supply  also  the  town 
of  La  Guaira  and  towns  down  the  Central  Railway  as  far  as  Valencia,  Victoria,  and 
down  in  there-^-quite  a  material  circulation.  The  number  of  illiterates,  I  should  say, 
would  be  as  high  as  65  per  cent.,  at  least. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  It  would  vary  according  to  the  district? 

MR.  MANNING:  Quite  so,  indeed. 

MR.  KRAUSZ  :  I  take  it  for  granted  that  in  those  two  countries  there  would 
hardly  be  a  market  for  type  founders,  printing  presses,  job  presses  and  things  like 
that. 

MR.  MANNING  :  I  do  not  see  why  not.  The  government  has  a  very  large  print- 
ing establishment  in  Caracas — I  speak  advisedly,  because  I  know  the  newspaper 
business;  and  one  of  those  papers  has  just  put  in  a  battery  of  linotypes — I  think 
three.  There  are  a  number  of  job  printers;  there  are  five  or  six  other  small  daily 
papers  published  there  and  several  weekly  papers  and  a  monthly  magazine,  three  or 
four  literary  reviews ;  and  the  same  thing  is  true  at  Maracaibo.  In  Maracaibo  there 
is  a  magazine  published  monthly  and  two  or  three  weekly  papers  and  one  daily. 
There  is  hardly  a  town  of  any  importance  in  Venezuela  that  has  not  its  daily  news- 
paper, and  the  same  thing  is  true  of  Colombia.  I  do  not  know  so  much  about 
the  newspapers  in  Bogota.  In  Cartagena  there  were  two  daily  papers  at  one  time, 
while  I  was  there,  and  then  one  suspended  temporarily ;  and  Barranquilla  has  two 
dailies,  and  one  or  two  other  reviews  were  published  there. 

I  should  say  that,  considering  the  size  of  the  reading  public,  the  opportunity 
to  sell  that  kind  of  goods  would  be  very  good. 

MR.  GUMPERT,  of  S.  Gumpert  &  Co.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. :  Would  it  pay  to  send  a 
baker's  supply  saleman  to  Venezuela  and  Colombia  ?^  Is  the  baking  done  there  by 
the  families,  or  do  they  have  regular  bakeries  as  in  this  country? 

MR.  MANNING  :  I  should  say  that  90  per  cent,  of  the  bread  users  of  Venezuela 
and  Colombia  buy  their  bread  from  the  bakeries.    Yes,  I  should  say  more  thari 
that— I  should  say  97  per  cent,  would  be  even  too  small,  because  very  rarely  you 
find  ovens  in  use  among  the  families.     Of  course,  in  the  country  the  average  person 
there  uses  corncake  or  hoecake,  and  they  do  not  use  much  bread;  but  all  the  : 
that  is  sent  into  Venezuela  and  Colombia  is  made  up  into  bread,  and  the  gre 
portion  of  it  made  up  in  public  bakeries. 

35 


MR.  RRAUSZ  :  Is  the  baker  a  foreigner  or  a  native  ? 

MR.  MANNING  :  Not  always  a  foreigner  nor  always  a  native.  In  Caracas  and 
La  Guaira  the  principal  bakers  happen  to  be  Italians.  In  Cartagena,  Colombia, 
there  are  several  bakers  that  I  knew  who  were  natives  of  the  country,  who  were 
Colombians,  and  there  are  some  Venezuelans  who  are  in  the  business  in  Caracas. 

MR,  GUMPERT:    Do  you  think  it  would  pay  to  send  a  man  through  there? 

MR.  MANNING:  Absolutely. 

MR.  F.  B.  PURDIE,  of  R.  G.  Dun  &  Co.,  Buenos  Aires,  Argentina :  I  would  like 
to  asjc  Mr.  Manning  a  question  regarding  any  serious  complaints  he  may  have  heard 
about  the  packing  of  goods  arriving  in  Venezuela  or  in  Colombia  from  the  United 
States. 

MR.  MANNING  :  That  is  a  question  that  is  very  important.  There  is  very  little 
complaint,  I  am  glad  to  say,  about  present-day  ordinary  packing  methods ;  but  there 
is  one  great  point  wherein  our  American  manufacturers  are  lame,  and  that  is  in 
following  absolutely  instructions  as  to  joining  of  goods.  In  Venezuela,  for  example, 
so  that  you  will  understand  thoroughly  my  point,  the  tariff  is  based  on  nine  classifi- 
cations, and  every  article  in  any  package  pays  the  tariff  rate  of  the  highest  classified 
article  in  the  package.  Do  you  get  the  point?  For  example,  a  man  writes  to  you, 
say,  for  a  line  of  goods,  some  of  which  are  classified  down  as  low  as  second  and 
third  class,  which  might  be  a  franc  per  kilogram,  and  some  of  the  goods — a  small 
package — it  might  be  jewelry  or  something  of  that  character,  which  he  would  think 
it  just  as  well  to  go  in  this  big  box  and  that  there  was  no  use  of  making  a  special 
box,  and  he  would  put  into  that  same  case  a  little  package  of  jewelry,  as  I  say,  or 
a  small  knit  undershirt,  which  pays  two  pesos,  plus  55  per  cent,  surcharge,  or  twenty 
francs,  plus  25  per  kilogram,  to  bring  in  their  goods.  Just  one  single  piece  of  ready- 
made  clothing,  a  child's  stocking,  for  instance,  is  all  that  is  necessary  to  make  a 
great  big  threshing  machine  pay  the  ninth  classification  under  the  Venezuelan  law. 

MR.  D.  LINDEMAY,  of  Eugene  Dietzgen  &  Co.,  New  York  city :  Mr.  Manning  just 
stated  in  his  formal  address,  Why  don't  the  American  manufacturers  send  samples 
to  one  or  two  merchants  upon  consignment,  for  demonstration?  I  would  like  to  ask 
you,  how  can  a  manufacturer  who  is  willing  to  do  this  find  such  merchants  who  are 
not  only  reliable,  but  who  have  sufficient  experience  in  the  handling  of  this  machine 
so  as  to  insure  their  being  able  to  demonstrate  it  successfully?  In  the  case  of 
machinery,  or  surveying  or  engineering  instruments  and  things  of  that  character,  in 
which  there  is  a  strong  German,  French  and  Italian  and  practical  European  compe- 
tition. *! 

MR.  MANNING:  The  only  way  that  you  can  get  at  that  at  present  is  either 
through  your  consular  or  diplomatic  representative,  who  will  surely  be  glad  at  any 
time  to  send  you  a  list  of  merchants  from  whom  you  may  select,  and  I  think  I  can 
say  one  thing  right  here  in  that  connection  that  perhaps  would  be  of  interest,  that 
I  believe  the  average  man  in  the  Consular  service,  in  sending  a  list  of  merchants  to 
any  inquiring  manufacturer,  uses  his  best  care  and  judgment  to  select  only  the  names 
of  such  men  with  whom  you  can  possibly  do  business.  The  amount  of  their  credit 
depends  on  you,  because  a  consular  officer  cannot  find  out  just  to  what  extent  you 
could  extend  credit  or  anything  of  that  kind,  but  I  am  pretty  sure  he  is  not  apt  to 
give  you  any  name  of  a  business  firm  near  his  post  whom  he  does  not  think  reliable 
up  to  a  reasonable  point,  at  least  that  they  have  a  commercial  reputation. 

The  other  point,  as  to  how  to  get  at  the  right  man — that  is  a  little  bit  difficult, 
unless  you  do  as  I  have  said,  send  your  travelers  to  learn  the  country.  Sometimes 
we  will  get,  I  hope,  American  banks  in  those  countries  that  can  answer  satisfactorily 
and  fully  any  question  that  might  be  asked  regarding  any  man  in  business  in  those 
countries,  who  can  make  it  their  business  to  give  this  information. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  This  question  is  asked  by  Donald  Tulloch  of 
the  National  Metal  Trades  Association,  Worcester,  Mass. :  "What  field  is  there  in 
Venezuela  for  sale  of  machine  tools,  like  lathes,  planers,  drills,  grinding  machines, 
etc.?" 

MR.  MANNING:  The  Venezuelan  Government  has  a  very  large  dry  dock  at 
Puerto  Cabello.  There  are  shops  at  Caracas  for  both  the  German  railway  and  the 
British  railway  running  from  Caracas  down  to  La  Guaira,  and  the  German  railway 
running  from  Caracas  to  Valencia,  and  for  the  Central  railway ;  and  then  there  are 
a  number  of  large  shops  in  Caracas,  where  such  tools  are  used.  The  electrical 
plants  everywhere  have  occasion  for  the  use  of  that  sort  of  machinery,  and  you  will 
find  that  nearly  every  town  of  over  10,000  people  in  Colombia  and  Venezuela  can 
use  some  of  the  machines  of  that  character.  I  met  in  the  shops  at  La  Guaira,  which 

36 


are  under  the  operation  of  the  British  company,  a  British  master  mechanic  and 
where  also  there  are  some  splendid  American  tools  and  machines,  and  this  British 
master-mechanic  said :  "We  do  not  turn  out  anything  like  that ;"  and  the  Germans 
every  once  in  a  while  buy  an  American  machine,  because  they  find  something  that 
fits  their  particular  case.  Patriotism  reaches  only  the  point  where  it  pays. 

MR.  P.  R.  CLARK,  of  the  Gen.  Fire  Proofing  Co.,  Youngstown,  Ohio :  We  have 
heard  from  year  to  year  of  American  manufacturers  who  have  established  local 
agencies  in  South  America,  to  which  they  have  successfully  exported  their  products. 

MR.  MANNING.  I  cannot  see  any  reason  why  if  that  has  proven  successful  in 
other  countries  it  should  not  prove  successful  in  Colombia  and  Venezuela.  As 
a  particular  example  of  what  can  be  done  in  Colombia  and  Venezuela,  we  have  a 
man  in  Caracas  who  a  couple  of  years  ago  conceived  the  idea  of  going  into  business. 
He  was  a  newspaper  correspondent,  and  he  secured  the  agency  for  a  standard  Amer- 
ican typewriter,  and  there  was  then  only  an  occasional  typewriter  in  use  in  that  coun- 
try, and  today  they  are  all  over  Venezuela.  He  sold  a  lot  of  them.  He  took  at  the 
same  time  the  agency  for  one  of  the  standard  piano  players,  and  he  is  selling  them 
everywhere.  He  goes  into  a  man's  house  and  gives  a  concert  in  the  evening.  He  has 
the  man  bring  in  a  lot  of  his  friends,  and  even  goes  to  the  point  once  in  a  while  of 
sending  in  a  case  of  liquid  refreshment  to  kind  of  make  the  time  pass  more  pleas- 
antly; and  that  piano  could  not  be  pulled  out  of  that  man's  house  with  a  team  of 
horses.  Six  months  ago  there  was  not  a  cash  register  in  Caracas,  and  today  there 
are  sixty-five.  Now,  why  can  you  not  do  business  in  Venezuela?  All  you  want  to 
do  is  to  get  your  man,  the  right  one,  and  send  him  there. 

QUESTION  :  Is  it  necessary  to  establish  exclusive  sales  agencies  in  order  to 
obtain  distribution? 

MR.  MANNING  :  I  do  not  see  why.  Of  course,  if  you  get  the  right  kind  of  a 
man  it  pays  to  give  him  exclusive  sale  of  an  article.  I  would  rather  have  one  man 
doing  all  the  business  that  his  shelves  will  let  him  do  than  have  ten  men  letting  the 
goods  rest  on  their  shelves. 

MR.  FRANK  LA  LANNE:  Mr.  Manning 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Mr.  La  Lanne,  president  of  the  National  Board 
of  Trade,  is  recognized. 

MR.  LA  LANNE:  During  a  business  experience  of  forty  years  we  have  made 
some  experiments  as  to  the  catalogues,  price  currents  which  went  by  mail,  and  the 
special  salesmen  carrying  our  own  line  of  goods  and  none  other  through  all  parts  of 
the  United  States.  We  sell  in  every  State,  and  we  found  the  special  agent  was  the 
only  way  to  increase  our  business,  and  our  plant  is  now  doing  $4,000,000  in  a  year  in 
American  goods,  and  we  sell  all  we  can  make,  but  we  are  hoping  in  the  near 
future  to  send  some  men  to  South  America.  You  advised,  and  I  was  so  glad  to 
hear  it,  very  earnestly  that  the  firms  who  were  big  enough  and  progressive  enough 
would  do  better  business  if  they  would  send  their  own  special  salesmen,  speaking 
the  Spanish  language,  to  visit  personally  the  dealers  in  American  goods.  I  under- 
stood you  to  say  that.  Am  I  right? 

MR.  MANNING:  Yes,  sir. 

MR.  LA  LANNE  :  And  we  thought  that  plan  was  correct,  with  the  idea  of  our 
ambassadors,  ministers  and  consuls  to  extend  our  trade  very  largely,  and  we  are 
expecting  to  send  some  agents  to  South  America.  May  I  ask  you  to  emphasize  that 
a  little,  sir? 

MR.  MANNING:  I  thank  you  very  much.  I  think  that  that  is  absolutely  the 
plan.  I  think  the  plan  is  to  send  your  men  into  the  country  and  let  them  go  there 
and  meet  with  the  merchants  of  that  country  and  stay  with  the  merchants  of  that 
country  until  the  merchant  knows  what  to  do  with  the  goods. 

MR.  LA  LANNE  :  That  is  the  point. 

MR.  EDWARD  A.  DEEDS,  of  the  National  Cash  Register  Co.,  Dayt°n>  Ohio: 
In  answer  to  that  question  which  the  gentleman  asked  a  moment  ago,  whether 
could  get  representatives,  I  should  say  by  all  means  get  some  one  that  handles  your 
goods  exclusively,  and,  furthermore,  you  will  have  no  difficulty  in  getting  some  ot 
methods  and  go  back  and  put  into  force  the  same  policies  that  we  put  mt< 
in  this  country,  and  in  that  way  we  are  getting  practically  the  same  met 
handling  our  business  there  as  we  have  in  this  country.  ^ 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  That  is  very  good  information.  Mr.  Appel  ot 
Philadelphia  asks  what  effect  climate  in  South  America  will  have  on  pia 

1GM™  MANNING:  Just  exactly  the  same  as  it  will  on  pianos  made  in  Germany. 

37 


MR.  JOSEPH  H.  APPEL,  of  John  Wanamaker,  Philadelphia,  Pa. :  Are  not  the 
German  pianos  made  especially  to  meet  the  effects  of  the  climate  down  there? 

MR.  MANNING  :  Some  of  the  German  pianos  are,  but  with  all  that  the  German 
specially  made  piano  cannot  sell  in  the  face  of  the  American  piano.  I  have  today  in 
my  house  a  Steinway  piano  that  has  been  in  Venezuela  for  fifteen  years,  and  I  bought 
it  a  couple  of  years  ago,  because  it  was  possessed  of  a  splendid  and  magnificent  tone. 
I  think  it  is  just  as  good  today  as  the  day  it  went  out  of  the  factory,  excepting  that 
it  is  a  little  bit  scarred  up  with  the  ravages  of  time.  A  well-made  American  piano 
will  stand  the  climate  there  just  as  well  as  it  will  stand  the  climate  in  the  United 
States. 

MR.  H.  P.  STRATTON,  of  Stratton  &  Bragg  Co.,  Petersburg,  Va. :  Is  there  a 
market  in  Venezuela  for  small  portable  steam  engines  for  farming  purposes? 

MR.  MANNING:  That  is  one  of  the  points  I  touched  on  a  while  ago.  There 
is  a  market  there  to  be  made,  but  you  have  got  to  make  it.  The  farmer  of  Venezuela 
does  not  know  much  about  the  portable  steam  engine,  and  he  does  not  know  in  what 
way  he  can  make  use  of  it.  Once  in  a  while  you  find  one  who  is  making  use  of 
those  things.  In  a  great  many  places  there  is  plenty  of  water  for  water-power. 

There  is  where  you  need  to  send  a  man  to  show  the  Venezuelan  farmers  and 
Colombian  farmers  what  the  machinery  can  do  to  make  it  of  value  to  them.  If  you 
will  do  that  you  will  sell  them  the  goods. 

MR.  PHANOR  J.  EDER,  of  Washington,  D.  C. :  Just  a  suggestion  along  the  lines 
of  exclusive  agency.  You  must  not  get  them  with  one  qualification  for  the  whole 
country.  Different  sections  of  the  country  are  as  different  as  the  States  are  from 
Alaska,  and  you  must  give  them  exclusive  agencies  for  each  particular  section  of 
the  country,  and  not  for  the  whole  country  at  large. 

MR.  Louis.  RAPOSO,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa. :  In  regard  to  the  exclusive  agency, 
there  is  a  good  effect  and  a  bad  effect,  but  probably  the  best  way  is  to  place  a  mini- 
mum of  sales,  and  in  that  way  from  year  to  year  if  the  agent  makes  good  he  con- 
tinues, and  if  he  does  not,  take  it  away  and  give  it  to  the  proper  man. 

In  regard  to  pianos,  it  is  very  true  with  respect  to  Brazil  that  the  manufac- 
turer has  to  consider  the  climate,  and  special  provisions  have  to  be  adopted  in  those 
which  go  to  the  Amazon  section  and  that  of  the  Rio  Grande,  and  the  Soliinoens,  too. 

MR.  T.  C.  CLIFFORD,  of  the  Pittsburg  Meter  Co.,  Pittsburg,  Pa.:  Are  water 
and  gas  meters  used  in  Peru  and  Argentina?  Are  they  manufactured  there,  in 
Europe,  or  the  United  States? 

MR.  MANNING  :  There  is  at  present  no  gas  plant  in  operation  in  _Venezuela, 
although  there  was  a  few  years  ago  and  they  are  talking  now  of  rehabilitating  that 
and  establishing  it.  If  some  one  should  go  down  there  and  show  them  how  they 
could  get  consumption  for  gas,  by  taking  down  a  good  line  of  gas  stoves  and  intro- 
ducing them,  the  gas  stove  would  naturally  introduce  the  gas  meter  at  the  same  time. 
As  to  the  water  service,  they  are  not  using  meters  at  any  place  that  I  know  of,  but 
they  should  be  in  use  in  nearly  all  those  places.  Meters  would  be  a  great  assistance 
in  the  furtherance  of  sanitation,  because  it  would  prevent  people  from  allowing 
their  spigots  to  stand  open  and  thus  form  pools  of  water  around,  in  which  the 
mosquito  breeds. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Our  specialists  and  experts  will  answer  any 
questions  as  fully  as  they  can.  We  cannot  go  on  longer  with  this  discussion.  We 
have  learned  more  in  a  few  minutes  than  we  could  otherwise  in  a  much  longer  time. 
Mr.  Manning,  we  are  very  grateful  to  you  and  we  shall  call  upon  you  again  later, 
and  I  hope  we  may  have  other  questions  to  ask  you. 

Gentlemen,  I  have  particular  pleasure  in  introducing  his  excellency,  the  Min- 
ister from  Peru,  Mr.  Felipe  Pardo. 

ADDRESS  OF  THE  MINISTER  FROM  PERU, 
MR.  FELIPE  PARDO 

Mr.  PARDO  said: 

As  representative  of  Peru,  I  shall  allow  myself  to  make  some  brief  observa- 
tions in  respect  to  the  present  commercial  situation  in  my  country,  for  the  purpose 
of  assisting  you  in  the  investigation  which  you  have  imposed  upon  yourselves  in 
seeking  the  means  to  develop  commerce  between  the  United  States  and  the  countries 

38 


of  Latin  America.  I  shall  attempt  to  be  concise  in  order  to  merit  your  attention 
and  shall  not  forget  that  you  are  here  to  secure  useful  data  and  not  to  hear  literarv 
discussions.  * 

Much  has  been  written  and  spoken  in  these  late  years  in  regard  to  the  causes 
which  make  difficult  the  expansion  of  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  with 
Latin  America  and  of  the  means  which  should  be  employed  to  counteract  the  same  • 
but  there  has  not  been  given  the  detailed  study  of  the  economic  and  commercial 
situation  of  the  American  Republics  that  importance  which  it  has  in  the  accomplish- 
ment of  the  object  sought.  Therefore,  I  shall  assume  that  you  will  be  interested  in 
knowing  the  facts  which  I  am  about  to  lay  before  you  regarding  Peru. 

The  larger  part  of  Peruvian  commerce  is  with  Europe,  to  which  is  sold  sugar 
cotton,  wool,  coffee,  rubber,  gold,  silver,  copper,  etc.  To  the  United  States  is 
exported  only  copper  in  the  bar,  which  one  American  company  produces,  straw  hats 
and  some  other  insignificent  products. 

Peru  imports  from  Europe  in  considerable  quantities  such  articles  as  it  does 
not  itself  produce,  and  from  the  United  States,  principally  steel  rails,  agricultural 
implements,  sewing  machines,  iron  and  steel  plates  and  wire,  lumber,  flour,  boots 
and  shoes,  and  drugs. 

Peruvian  capital  is  engaged  in  developing,  whether  alone  or  assisted  by 
European  capital  loaned  by  commercial  houses,  a  great  part  of  the  national  produc- 
tion. There  exist  also  strong  foreign  enterprises  operating  with  European  capital, 
sugar  estates,  cattle  ranches,  mines  and  other  industries,  and  two  American  mining 
enterprises  of  importance— the  one  exploiting  copper  and  the  other  gold  and  rubber. 

We  have  a  number  of  Peruvian  banks  and  one  German.  The  strongest  of 
the  Peruvian  banks  has  a  large  part  of  its  stock  held  in  Europe. 

All  the  railroads  were  constructed  with  European  capital.  Obligations  and 
bonds  of  Peruvian  electric  power  and  lighting  companies,  telephones  and  street 
railways,  steamship  wharves,  etc.,  are  held  and  quoted  on  the  European  exchanges. 

The  business  of  exportation  and  of  importation  is  carried  on  by  means  of 
Peruvian,  German,  English  and  Italian  business  houses.  There  is  also  one  American 
house,  among  the  most  important  in  Peru. 

Steamships  transporting  passengers  and  freight  between  Peru  and  other  ports 
of  South  America,  Europe  and  the  United  States,  carry  Peruvian,  Chilean,  English, 
German,  Japanese  and  Italian  flags. 

The  European  market  for  the  sale  of  our  exports  and  for  the  purchase  of  the 
manufactures  which  we  import  is  preferred  to  that  of  the  United  State  on  account 
of  the  better  price  which  our  products  command  in  Europe,  and  the  lower  price  at 
which  we  may  there  procure  those  articles  which  we  require ;  to  more  frequent  com- 
munications; to  lower  freight  rates;  to  the  fact  that  the  commercial  houses  which 
control  the  Peruvian  commerce  and  which  make  concessions  and  loans  to  exporters 
and  concede  long  credits  to  purchasers  of  the  manufactures  entering  the  country 
are  European,  and  finally  to  the  influence  of  European  capital  invested  in  Peru. 

This  brief  exposition  will  enable  you  to  appreciate  how  strong  and  deep 
rooted  are  the  commercial  bonds  between  my  country  and  the  European  countries, 
while  at  the  same  time  it  may  make  you  reflect  upon  the  causes  which  bring  about 
your  disadvantageous  position  and  of  the  measures  which  you  might  deem  con- 
venient to  put  into  practice  in  order  to  increase  your  commerce  with  Peru. 

While  it  not  within  my  province  to  make  a  study  of  these  measures,  the  mis- 
sion which  I  have— to  strengthen  the  relation  of  every  kind  which  may  exist  between 
your  country  and  mine — imposes  upon  me  the  duty  of  bringing  to  your  attention 
some  considerations  which  perhaps  may  facilitate  this  study. 

The  commerce  which  most  interests  you  is  that  of  exporting  your  manufac- 
tured products  to  South  American  markets  which  now  are  supplied  with  European 
manufactures.  In  order  to  make  your  entry  into  these  markets  it  would  be  necessary 
that  you  do  those  things  which  the  Europeans  have  done :  invest  capital  which  wil 
stimulate  production;  transport  in  your  own  vessels  South  American  products; 
facilitate  the  sale  of  these  in  your  markets  on  advantageous  conditions,  and  sell 
your  manufactures  in  South  America  at  prices  which  will  compete  with  European 

"  'The  investment  of  capital  by  you  in  countries  like  Peru  would  result  in  a  few 
years  in  a  great  increase  in  the  consuming  power  of  the  country.  Our  commerce 
is  not  in  proportion  to  our  population,  for  this  population  neither  produces  nor 
consumes  that  which  it  should.  In  order  to  develop  it,  it  is  necessary  that  we 

39 


struct  more  railways,  exploit  on  a  large  scale  the  mines,  the  deposits  of  coal  and  of 
salt,  the  petroleum  and  the  rubber  industry;  establish  copper  and  iron  smelters; 
build  large  central  sugar  factories ;  extend  the  cultivation  of  cotton,  of  cacao,  and  of 
tropical  fruits;  develop  the  production  of  sheep,  alpaca  and  vicuna  wool;  irrigate 
large  belts  of  land  along  the  coast  which  formerly  were  irrigated  by  the  ancient 
Incas.  All  this  offers  a  vast  and  remunerative  field  for  American  capital. 

The  development  of  the  country  would  produce  a  larger  consumption  of  for- 
eign manufactures,  and  the  United  States,  linked  thereto  by  the  capital  which  it 
may  have  invested,  will  find  itself  in  an  advantageous  position  to  supply  these  manu- 
factures. 

But  perhaps  it  would  not  suffice  that  Peruvian  production  increase,  owing  to 
the  investment  of  American  capital,  in  order  that  an  active  exchange  with  the 
United  State  be  developed,  for  it  might  happen  that  Peruvian  exported  products 
might  always  find  in  Europe  a  more  advantageous  market,  where  they  would  be 
exchanged  for  European  merchandise  sold  to  Peru.  In  order  that  the  United  States 
may  through  its  invested  capital  be  benefited  by  the  productive  development  of  my 
country  and  supply  us  with  its  manufactured  products,  it  is  necessary  that  our 
exported  products  shall  command  in  this  country  a  price  as  favorable  as  that  which 
Europe  offers  us  for  them. 

This  might  be  accomplished  if  you  found  it  fitting  to  make  reductions  in  your 
customs  tariff  in  favor  of  the  agricultural  and  mineral  products  of  Peru,  where 
likewise  reductions  might  be  made  in  our  schedules  in  favor  of  certain  American 
manufactures.  This  question  of  reciprocity,  which  interests  you  more  than  it  does 
us,  for  in  the  world  market  of  today  it  is  more  difficult  to  find  buyers  of  merchandise 
such  as  you  have  to  offer  than  of  natural  products  such  as  we  produce,  is,  perhaps, 
one  of  the  conditions  upon  which  depends  your  commercial  expansion  with  my 
country  and  with  all  of  Latin  America.  You  should  consider  whether  or  not  it 
comports  with  the  policy  of  the  United  States  that  countries  like  mine  devote  their 
energies  to  the  production  and  exportation  of  natural  products,  which  can  be  sold 
easily  and  at  a  fair  price,  instead  of  applying  themselves  to  the  development  of  the 
production  of  manufactures  protected  by  high  customs  duties  against  similar  foreign 
goods,  production  which,  if  it  shall  extend  and  increase  in  proportion  to  the  progress 
of  the  Latin  American  countries,  will  surely  make  difficult  the  sale  therein  of 
American  products.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  for  example,  there  is  now  produced  in 
Peru  almost  the  whole  quantity  of  certain  kinds  of  cotton  fabrics  which  formerly 
were  imported  from  England. 

In  the  matter  of  reciprocity,  we  shall  not  be  able  to  go  so  far  therein  as  your- 
selves; that  is  to  say,  we  shall  not  be  able  to  proceed  to  complete  liberation  from 
customs  duties  on  all  American  manufactures  in  exchange  for  that  total  liberation 
which  might  comport  you  to  concede,  or  for  us  to  demand,  on  all  our  agricultural 
and  mineral  products,  for  two  principal  reasons,  i.  e.,  because  our  chief  fiscal  income 
is  derived  from  customs,  and  because  we  have  already  a  good  market  in  Europe 
for  the  sale  of  our  products.  Likewise,  many  of  the  South  American  countries  have 
existing  treaties  with  European  powers  containing  the  "favored  nation"  clause,  and 
it  would  be  necessary  to  denounce  these  treaties  in  order  to  come  to  an  agreement 
with  the  United  States. 

You  are  availing  yourselves  of  a  very  favorable  opportunity  for  the  discussion 
and  establishment  of  the  foundations  of  your  future  commercial  expansion  in  South 
America,  because  the  South  American  countries  are  not  at  this  time  manufacturers, 
are  not  your  competitors  in  this  branch  of  industry  as  is  Europe,  but  producers  of 
food  products  and  raw  material  needed  in  the  industries.  So  under  these  circum- 
stances you  encounter  today  fewer  difficulties  in  the  establishment  of  an  advan- 
tageous system  of  reciprocity  than  you  will  find  later,  when  there  shall  have  been 
developed  in  our  countries  industrial  manufactories  under  a  system  of  protective 
customs  tariffs. 

Another  indispensable  factor  towards  the  development  of  Pan  American  com- 
merce is  the  establishment  of  steamship  lines  between  the  United  States  and  South 
America  in  competition  with  European  lines  trading  between  Europe  and  South 
America,  since  but  little  would  American  manufacturers  profit  from  the  tariff 
advantages  which  might  be  secured  for  the  introduction  of  their  products  if  high 
freight  rates  should  prevent  the  sale  of  their  goods  at  prices  at  which  other  similar 
goods  are  sold.  Neither  would  the  South  American  exporters  profit  from  the  con- 
cessions which  might  be  granted  them  for  the  sale  of  their  products  in  the  United 
States.  The  establishment  of  American  steamship  lines  would  be  important  in 


order  that,  the  Panama  Canal  being  opened,  there  shall  pass  through  it  more  shios 
tmder  the  American  flag  than  now  pass  through  the  Straits  of  Magellan  can-vine 
American  manufactures  to  the  Pacific  coast. 

The  establishment  of  steamship  lines  is  important  not  only  for  the  transport 
of  products,  but  also  for  the  transport  of  passengers.  The  communication  of  swift 
ships  between  the  ports  of  the  Tjmted  States  and  those  on  the  Southern  Pacific 
from  Panama  to  Chile,  will  make  easy  for  business  men  and  commercial  travelers 
the  going  in  person  to  study  these  markets ;  will  enable  statesmen  and  scientists  to 
put  themselves  in  personal  contact  with  the  influential  men  to  South  America  •  will 
offer  an  opportunity  to  persons  fond  of  traveling  to  visit  new  countries  containing 
incomparable  natural  beauties  and  interesting  remains  of  ancient  civilizations,  and 
finally  will  stimulate  streams  of  immigration  which  might  in  a  few  years  change  the 
economic  situation  of  the  western  coast  of  the  South  Pacific. 

Another  beneficial  result  of  rapid  communication  would  be  the  building  along 
the  coast  of  fine  hotels  with  all  modern  conveniences.  These  hotels  would  naturally 
become  winter  resorts  for  those  seeking  a  climate  different  from  that  of  the  United 
States. 

Peru,  which  will  be  one  of  the  countries  most  benefited  by  the  Canal,  since 
its  ports  will  be  within  4000  miles  of  Europe  instead  of  the  10,000  miles  which  now 
separate  them  by  way  of  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  and  within  2,500  miles  of  New 
Orleans^  is  extending  its  merchant  marine  and  preparing  its  ports  for  the  develop- 
ment which  it  hopes  for  in  maritime  traffic.  We  have  one  national  steamship  company, 
with  two  ships  of  eighteen  knots  and  three  of  twelve,  which  go  along  the  coast  to 
Panama,  established  with  Peruvian  capital  and  subsidized  with  $150,000  a  year  by 
the  Peruvian  Government.  This  company  owns  a  floating  dock  in  Callao  for  ships 
of  12,000  tons. 

The  franchise  and  monopoly  which  for  many  years  a  French  company  has 
had  in  the  loading  and  unloading  of  vessels  at  Callao,  granted  by  the  Peruvian 
Government  in  exchange  for  the  great  port  works  executed  by  this  company,  will 
expire  soon,  and  then  there  will  be  built  new  wharves  and  there  will  be  reductions 
in  the  cost  of  the  shipment  and  unloading  of  merchandise. 

The  Peruvian  Government  is  also  placing  lighthouses  along  the  coast  in 
order  to  make  navigation  more  secure.  In  brief,  we  are  in  a  situation,  the  Canal 
being  opened,  to  take  care  of  the  increase  of  traffic  and  to  make  the  same  profitable 
for  the  interest  of  the  Peruvian  Government  and  people. 

I  do  not  wish  longer  to  detain  you,  but  before  concluding  allow  me  to  call  your 
attention  to  another  factor  of  international  character  which  will  exercise  in  the 
development  of  Pan  American  relations  as  much  or  more  influence  than  those 
which  I  have  had  the  privilege  of  pointing  out.  I  refer  to  the  necessity  that  peace 
be  maintained  among  all  our  Republics.  American  public  opinion  is  called  on  to 
procure  this  desideratum  by  that  consideration  which  it  inspires  in  all  the  countries, 
and  by  the  example  which  it  gives  us  of  respect  to  the  right  of  the  weak  and  of 
acquiescence  of  international  judicial  decisions. 

I  thank  you  for  the  opportunity  which  you  have  given  ^ me  of  making  these 
remarks,  which  may  contribute  to  the  expansion  of  Pan  American  commerce. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Gentlemen,  that  excellent  speech  by  the  Minister 
of  Peru  will  be  fittingly  followed  by  the  address  that  we  have  here  from  one  of  the 
Charge  d'Affaires  of  Argentina,  who  has  come  in  since  I  last  made  the  announce- 
ment, who  asked  that  one  of  our  staff  shall  read  his  paper.  When  that  is  concluded 
we  will  have  questions  asked  in  regard  to  both  Peru  and  Argentina.  I  will  ask 
Dr.  Albert  Hale  to  read  the  remarks  of  Mr.  Jacinto  L.  Villegas. 

ADDRESS  OF  THE  CHARGE  D'AFFAIRES  OF 
ARGENTINA,  MR.  JACINTO  L.  VILLEGAS 

Mr.  VILLEGAS  said: 

I  will  express  in  a  few  words  what  I  consider  advisable  and  indispensable  for 
the  encouragement  of  the  commercial  vinculum  between  the  United  States  and  the 
Argentine  Republic,  since  their  political  relations,  as  His  Excellency,  t> 
said  in  his  last  message  to  Congress,  have  never  before  been  so  important  nor  upon 
so  solid  a  basis  as  at  the  present  time,  owing  to  the  policy  of  approxim 


sister  Republics  that,  with  laudable  solicitude,  is  pursued  by  the  Honorable  Secre- 
tary of  State,  Mr.  Knox. 

The  Argentine  Republic  has  a  foreign  trade  of  seven  hundred  millions,  prin- 
cipally with  Europe.  Last  year  she  bought  in  the  United  States  to  the  amount  of 
$43,000,000,  or  including  the  contracts  for  the  building  of  the  battleships,  railroad 
rolling  stock  and  other  items,  to  the  important  sum  of  eighty  odd  millions.  On  the 
other  hand,  our  sales  here  are  insignificant  in  comparison  and  out  of  proportion 
with  the  considerable  increase  during  the  last  few  years  of  the  sales  of  articles 
produced  in  the  United  States,  in  the  Argentine  market^ 

The  exports  of  the  United  States  to  the  countries  of  South  America  reach 
up  to  $76,000,000  in  gold,  of  which,  as  I  have  said,  $43,000,000  belong  to  Argentina, 
with  a  very  large  balance  of  trade  in  favor  of  the  United  States. 

These  relations,  as  can  be  seen,  have  no  economical  commercial  reciprocity 
whatsoever,  because,  although  the  Argentine  market  offers  an  ample  field  to  the 
exports  of  the  United  States,  the  same  is  not  true  of  Argentina's  exports  to  this 
country.  Thus,  we  see  in  Argentina  the  imports  from  the  United  States  grow 
rapidly  and  continuously,  jumping  in  less  than  no  time  from  $28,000,000  to  $43,00,000 
in  gold,  whilst  the  Argentine  exports  to  the  United  States  increase  only  very  grad- 
ually and  spasmodically.  This  extraordinary  inequality  is  explained  by  the  fact 
that  the  United  States  provide  Argentina  with  articles  which  we  do  not  manufacture, 
whilst  the  Argentine  products  find  here  similar  ones,  protected  by  the  high  tariff. 

This  noticeable  inequality  is  an  obstacle  to  reciprocity,  for,  to  insure  a  normal 
expansion  of  trade,  it  is  necessary  to  sustain  it  by  harmonic  factors  of  approximate 
equivalence. 

If  one  of  the  countries  fails  to  meet  this  requirement,  the  other  is  compelled 
to  stand  the  consequences. 

This  means  that  the  commercial  relations  between  the  United  States  and 
Argentina  can  be  strengthened  and  developed  only  by  the  attraction  of  reciprocal 
interests,  as  is  the  case  with  Argentina  and  other  countries.  With  England,  for 
instance,  there  is  perfect  and  spontaneous  reciprocity,  since  England  buys  from  us 
the  greater  part  of  the  Argentine  agricultural  production,  and  in  exchange  we  buy 
from  England,  in  relative  proportional  amounts,  her  merchandise.  The  same  thing 
happens  with  Germany  and  France,  and  for  this  reason  the  figures  of  interchange 
increase  constantly  and  evenly  in  the  imports  and  exports  respectively. 

With  the  United  States  the  situation  is  very  different.  Argentina  does  not 
sell  to  this  country  corn,  flax  nor  meat ;  our  exports  to  the  United  States  being 
limited  to  hides,  some  wool  and  extract  of  quebracho,  very  much  needed  here  in  the 
tanning  industries  of  footwear  and  saddlery. 

Hides  and  extract  of  quebracho,  the  least  important  ones  of  our  production, 
cannot  increase  our  interchange  sufficiently  to  give  it  impulse  and  solidity. 

If  the  United  States  are  to  occupy  an  advantageous  position  in  our  market, 
they  must  gain  it  through  their  financial  influence,  which  is  also  a  means  of  bringing 
about  closer  relations.  This  country  needs  to  supply  capital  for  business ;  to  invest 
its  cash  there ;  to  spread  it  throughout  Argentina,  as  England  has  done,  for  a  long 
period  of  years,  during  which  her  commercial  relations  were  at  the  lower  steps  of 
the  business  ladder;  but,  thanks  to  her  strategical  and  farsighted  financial  policy, 
England  has  attained  her  high  standing  of  today. 

France  and  Germany  are  maneuvring  for  and  displaying  a  similar  financial 
initiative  by  sending  to  Argentina  large  amounts  of  capital  devoted  to  enterprises 
and  to  industries  that,  whilst  they  are  yielding  large  dividends,  prepare  and  equip 
their  owners  to  confront  with  advantage  their  coming  rivals. 

The  business  men  of  the  United  States  find  themselves  in  identical  conditions 
for  initiating  the  conquest  of  and  rivalry  for  those  Argentine  markets  by  a  financial 
plan  of  introduction  and  application  of  capital  to  increase  their  influence  and  their 
vinculum,  and  at  the  same  time  compel  the  United  States  Government  to  facilitate 
the  interchange  now  disturbed  by  a  restrictive  regime  as  to  our  products. 

As  I  have  referred  to  the  market  offered  by  England  to  the  Argentine  pro- 
duction, I  will  permit  myself  to  state  here  some  figures  which  confirm  my  previous 
assertions. 

According  to  the  last  Consular  reports  at  hand,  the  Argentine  Republic  occu- 
pies in^England  first  rank  as  an  exporting  country  of  beef,  frozen  and  in  refrigera- 
tors; since,  from  a  total  value  of  50,717,015  gold  dollars,  imported  into  England, 
the  Argentine  Republic  contributed  33,667,865  gold  dollars,  the  total  amount  ex- 
ported from  various  sources  to  England  being  303,909,950  kilograms,  of  which 

42 


210,407,750  kilograms  came  from  the  Argentine  Republic;  that  is,  about  two-thirds 
of  the  total  importation  of  said  products  into  the  United  Kingdom  during  the  vear 
of  1909. 

In  lamb  and  mutton  the  Argentine  Republic  occupies  in  England  the  second 
rank,  with  71,880,400  kilograms,  introduced  there  in  1909,  representing  a  value  of 
10,124,445  gold  dollars  in  the  statistics  of  the  Government  of  His  Britannic  Majesty 

As  regards  wheat  the  Argentine  Republic  has  exported  to  the  English  market 
1,189,000  tons,  valued  at  46,422,505  gold  dollars,  in  a  total  of  importations  into  Eng- 
land of  4,892,721  tons,  which  represent  a  value  of  226,370,655  gold  dollars.  It  there- 
fore occupies  the  first  rank  among  the  countries  exporting  wheat  to  England,  and 
greatly  exceeds  Russia,  the  United  States  of  America,  Canada  and  British  India 

Over  one-half  the  total  importation  of  corn  into  the  United  Kingdom  conies 
from  Argentina,  and  of  the  value  of  60,614,060  gold  dollars  represented  by  that 
total,  34,207,600  gold  dollars  belong  to  Argentina.  Therefore,  Argentina  takes 
first  rank. 

In  regard  to  flax  the  same  thing  happens,  since  one-half  of  the  total  importa- 
tion into  the  United  Kingdom  comes  from  Argentina,  which  on  a  value  of  18,810,955 
gold  dollars  is  represented  on  the  statistical  data  with  9,149,945  gold  dollars  that 
the  165,113  tons  of  flax  introduced  into  England  from  our  country  amounted  to. 

In  the  exportation  of  wool  to  England  the  Argentine  Republic  occupied  in 
1909  the  fourth  rank,  with  19,185,510  kilograms,  valued  in  8,153,055  gold  dollars. 

Lard-  is  another  article  worth  mentioning,  since  the  quantities  imported  by 
the  United  Kingdom  have  augmented  considerably  during  the  last  four  years.  The 
value  that  the  English  statistics  give  to  lard  coming  from  our  country  in  1909  is 
1,743,540  gold  dollars. 

Tallow  and  stearine  amount  in  the  exportation  of  1909  into  England  to 
21,481,850  kilograms,  valued  at  3,306,260  gold  dollars,  and  oleomargarine  to  6,912,800 
kilograms,  valued  at  1,520,805  gold  dollars. 

By  comparing,  therefore,  the  amounts  shown  by  the  exports  of  Argentina  to 
England,  up  to  a  total  of  163,371,100  gold  dollars,  and  the  amount  of  91,573,265  gold 
dollars,  which  represents  the  exports  of  England  into  Argentina,  a  difference  is 
seen  in  favor  of  Argentina's  commerce  of  71,797,835  gold  dollars. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :     That  is  a  very  interesting  paper. 

Mr.  Noel,  will  you  come  up  this  way,  and  also  Mr.  Santamarina?  We  are 
particularly  favored  in  having  Mr.  Santamarina  of  Argentine  with  us.  And  also 
Mr.  Noel,  because  that  is  one  of  the  interesting  features  of  our  Conference,  in  that 
we  have  these  men  of  those  countries  to  answer  questions.  Mr.  Santamarina  will 
make  a  few  remarks  in  regard  to  his  country  before  questions  are  asked. 

ADDRESS   OF  MR.  J.  P.  SANTAMARINA,  SPECIAL 

CORRESPONDENT  OF  LA  RAZON,  BUENOS 

AIRES,  ARGENTINA 

Mr.  SANTAMARINA  said : 

Gentlemen,  you  will  excuse  my  English  scholarship,  because  I  am  a  Latin, 
and  we  Latins  have  some  difficulty  in  speaking  the  English  tongue. 

We  have  been  specially  favored  by  Nature,  our  climate  being  exceedingly 
good,  and  we  believe  it  to  have  some  superiority  over  some  of  our  South  American 
countries. 

Again,  we  have  been  favored  by  immigration,  and  in  respect  to  that  we  are 
in  a  somewhat  similar  position  to  the  United  States  of  America.  That  is  to  say, 
that  if  I  did  not  live  in  South  America  I  would  believe  that  I  lived  in  some  parts 
of  the  United  States.  We  are  identical  in  many  of  the  features  of  mankind.  We 
are  identical  as  a  people.  We  are  receiving  the  very  same  immigration  you  do,  the 
only  exception  being  that  the  Latin  predominates,  which  in  the  United  States,  as 
you  know,  is  not  the  case. 

We  have  absolutely  the  very  same  things  you  have,  and  what  can  be  sol( 
in  the  City  of  New  York  can  be  sold  in  the  City  of  Buenos  Aires.  m 

As  to  our  financial  condition,  which  has  to  be  considered  from  the  point 
the  trouble  we  have  had  in  struggling  through  our  hundred  years  of  indepen 
is  very  good.     We  have  got  currency,  our  money  being  the  paper  dollar,  which  is 
equal  to  forty-four  cents  American  gold.     So,  we  have  got  a  standard   given  u 
the  last  law  which  was  passed  through  our  Congress.    We  established  this 

43 


in  order  to  facilitate  international  trade ;  and  it  ought  to  be  a  capital  point  for  you 
to  consider  that  you  are  not  taking  any  risks  whatsoever  when  you  do  go  with  your 
trade  to  the  Argentine  Republic. 

I  had  the  pleasure  of  listening  to  that  very  honorable  Senator  of  the  great 
State  of  New  York,  Mr.  Root,  on  his  visit  to  Buenos  Aires.  I  was  standing  nearby 
when  Mr.  Root  said  to  the  American  congregation:  "Citizens,  fellow  countrymen, 
the  Argentine  offers  you  just  as  good  a  guarantee  as  our  own  home  land."  We  want 
you  to  come.  We  have  no  preference,  as  your  Congressman  from  Missouri  said,  and 
I  had  to  laugh  when  he  said  it,  "You  tickle  me,  and  I  will  tickle  you."  1  would  like 
to  say  that  we  have  tickled  you  pretty  fairly  the  last  year.  It  is  all  a  question  of 
the  mighty  dollar ;  it  is  not  a  question  of  favors.  We  will  not  ask  favors,  nor  will 
we  receive  favors.  We  have  given  you  orders  amounting  to  thirty  million  gold 
dollars  for  our  war  material.  We  have  been  criticised  for  favoring  the  United 
States.  We  have  given  you  the  business  in  the  United  States  because  you  competed 
with  other  nations,  and  you  gained  the  bid.  If  you  can  sell  warships,  why  should 
you  not  be  able  to  sell  staples  and  specialties  as  well?  There  is  not  an  article  pro- 
duced in  the  United  States  at  the  present  moment  that  will  not  sell  just  as  well  in 
the  Argentine  as  in  your  own  home  market.  Perhaps  there  is  less  demand,  but 
it  is  demanded. 

I  wish  I  could  carry  you  in  my  pocket  to  show  you  my  country.  All  Ameri- 
cans that  have  been  down  there  are  amazed  at  our  progress. 

We  have  England  with  us  there,  it  is  true,  but  England  has  protected  us  more 
than  any  other  country,  for  which  we  are  thankful,  but  we  have  given  England 
back  every  cent  they  have  given  us  in  the  form  of  dividends,  and  this  applies  to  the 
Germans  and  the  Belgians.  Bring  your  check  with  you  and  we  will  pay  you  the 
dividends. 

We  have  great  works  on  hand.  We  realize  that  our  port  with  its  forty-five 
millions  of  tonnage  a  year  is  getting  to  be  too  small.  We  want  to  expand  our  port 
and  build  piers  like  you  have  in  the  City  of  New  York.  This  has  demanded  capital, 
which  has  been  provided  by  our  Congress,  with  an  expenditure  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  million  dollars. 

Again,  we  have  a  subway.  Our  traffic  in  Buenos  Aires  is  so  extraordinary 
that  we  have  had  to  build  a  subway  like  Paris,  London  and  New  York.  All  these 
demand  machinery  and  implements. 

It  has  been  thought  of,  it  has  been  spoken  of  and  has  been  written  about — 
practically  books  on  the  American  shipping.  It  is  very  true — it  is  one  feature  of  the 
United  States  of  America  that  has  been  somewhat  neglected,  and  that  is  your  export 
shipping.  There  are  some  features  attached  to  shipping  which  prevent  the  United 
States  at  the  present  moment  establishing  shipping  on  the  same  scale  and  so  ad- 
vantageously as  England  and  Germany.  Those  are  facts  that  must  be  considered. 
I  will  give  you  an  instance.  Supposing  tomorrow  the  United  States  had  a  com- 
mercial fleet  as  important  as  England  and  Germany,  where  would  you  get  the  men 
that  would  sail  on  them?  Your  prosperity  here  is  so  great  that  nobody  would  go 
as  a  sailor.  No  fireman  on  a  locomotive  on  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  getting 
eighty  dollars  a  month  is  going  to  sail  on  a  ship  for  three  pounds  a  month. 

You  must  be  foresighted ;  you  must  see,  and  you  do  see  for  yourselves  through 
these  statistics  that  your  export  is  growing  daily;  that  your  connection  with  the 
Argentine  and  the  South  American  continent  is  growing  rapidly  and  should  grow 
much  more,  and  consequently  you  want  the  ships.  This  is  a  thing  for  tomorrow, 
but  you  must  prepare  for  it  today. 

Another  feature  of  American  export  to  the  Argentine  is  the  question  of 
finance.  You  are  also  in  that  particular  behind  time.  There  is  hardly  a  producing 
country  in  Europe  that  has  not  got  practically  its  own  bank  in  the  City  of  Buenos 
Aires.  I  have  gone  down  Wall  Street  and  I  have  noticed  them  selling  bonds,  and 
all  kinds  of  bonds.  You  have  got  banks,  and  all  kinds  of  banks.  Why  don't  you 
establish  your  own  financial  connection  in  Buenos  Aires  ?  I  do  not  see  any  reason 
why  this  three-cornered  business  should  persist.  Why  don't  you  get  the  whole  profit? 
It  is  a  great  drawback  to  our  commerce  and  to  your  exports.  To  have  all  these 
papers  and  documents  and  commissions  makes  in  some  instances  the  trade  absolutely 
prohibitive. 

I  will  come  down  now  to  a  very  practical  point  as  to  American  export,  and 
I  shall  gladly  try  to  answer  your  questions.  I  listened  with  great  interest  to  a 
representative  of  the  National  Cash  Register  Company,  Mr.  Edward  A.  Deeds.  It  is 
a  great  pleasure  to  me,  gentlemen,  to  speak  of  his  concern,  not  as  an  advertisement, 

44 


because  we  have  not  come  here  to  advertise  each  other— we  have  come  here  to  discuss 
ways  and  means.  The  National  Cash  Register  Company  is  one  of  our  proofs  of  prog- 
ress. It  is  like  the  typewriter.  Would  you  believe  that  the  Argentine  Republic— I  am 
not  speaking  of  the  rest  of  South  America,  but  speaking  of  my  own  country— use  the 
cash  register  just  as  frequently  as  it  is  used  here?  Would  you  believe  that  the  little 
shop  a  thousand  miles  in  the  country  is  using  these  ingenious  apparatuses  in  order 
to  save  the  bookkeeping  expense?  The  gentleman  from  Dayton,  Mr.  Deeds,  will  be 
able  to  confirm  the  statement  that  the  Argentine  Republic  is  one  of  the  best  markets  of 
the  world,  and  so  will  all  the  representatives  of  the  typewriting  machine  companies, 
if  they  are  here.  But,  what  did  this  register  company  do,  and  what  has  the  type- 
writer done?  Here  I  respectfully  refer  to  Mr.  Manning,  who  has  given  you  such 

an  excellent  illustration  of  what  export  business  is  to  the  Latin  American  country 

go  and  demonstrate.  It  will  do  no  good  to  send  a  calculating  machine  to  an  Indian 
if  he  does  not  know  how  to  use  it.  We  want  to  be  shown  how  to  use  these  modern 
implements  of  progress,  and  it  can  only  be  done  through  demonstration. 

The  gentleman  from  Dayton  said  that  he  approved  the  plan  of  exclusive 
agencies.  Well,  I  beg  to  differ  a  little  with  him.  Of  course,  when  you  get  hold 
of  a  thing  like  they  have  in  Dayton,  why,  by  all  means,  give  your  agency  away, 
because  that  is  just  as  good  as  if  you  yourself  were  in  Buenos  Aires;  but  as  to 
large  industries  and  organizations  like  the  steel  companies,  locomotive  builders  and 
all  those,  they  can  get  the  trade,  but  it  will  pay  them  to  send  the  right  man  down 
there,  a  man  who  has  traveled,  a  man  that  has  knowledge  of  the  language,  a  man 
who  has  to  expand  the  points  of  what  we  want,  because,  as  your  honorable  and 
excellent  President  Taft  said  yesterday,  "It  is  not  to  make  the  goods  you  want  to 
sell;  it  is  a  question  of  making  the  goods  we  want  to  buy."  Why  should  you 
impose  upon  us  the  use  of  a  machine  that  we  do  not  think  is  fit  for  our  country — 
why  should  not  we  tell  you  what  to  make?  I  have  had  hundreds  of  experiences. 
I  have  written  to  manufacturers  to  kindly  give  us  goods  in  such  and  such  a  manner — 
adapt  them  to  the  conditons,  and  I  would  receive  a  reply  stating,  "We  make  no 
alterations.  Send  us  a  check  and  we  will  send  you  the  machine." 

We  imitate  you  in  everything  and  in  every  respect,  and  we  are  glad  and  we 
are  honored  to  do  so.  But  you  must  do  like  the  rest;  you  must  adopt  the  customs 
which  may  seem  to  place  you  at  the  present  time  out  of  your  way,  but  what  will  it 
be  tomorrow?  You  will  have  all  the  profit  of  our  trade  if  you  just  will  make  slight 
alterations.  Here  is  an  illustration :  You  say,  "We  received  your  kind  inquiry  by 
mail  and  have  sent  catalogues.  If  you  send  an  order  kindly  send  us  a  check,  and 
we  will  be  pleased  to  give  you  all  the  advantages  possible."  That  is  the  way  you 
write  us.  As  a  rule  our  people  will  just  throw  such  a  communication  in  the  waste 
basket.  Then,  we  will  ask  one  of  our  German  friends  to  give  his  terms  and  he 
will  say,  "We  received  your  inquiry  and  our  special  representative  is  now  on  the 
road  to  Buenos  Aires  and  will  call  upon  you  and  give  you  all  the  facilities  that  you 
wish."  That  is  quite  different.  You  must  adopt  such  conditions  that  we  can  accept. 
We  are  only  too  pleased  to  deal  with  the  United  States  of  America  because  we  are 
on  the  same  continent.  Why  should  we  not  receive  goods  from  our  brothers  instead 
of  our  cousins.  Blood  is  thicker  than  water,  gentlemen. 

I  shall  be  very  pleased,  with  the  permission  of  our  Charge  d' Affaires  and  our 
Consular  Officer,  to  answer  any  question  that  you  deem  advisable  to  ask  me,  and  ] 
shall  do  it  with  the  best  of  my  ability.     Allow  me  to  say  before  finishing  that  one 
of  the  principal  causes  of  your  small  export  is  a  lack  of  intelligent  knowledge  ot 
the  Spanish  language.     That  is  a  pioneer  requisite  in  the  export  trade 
of  the  principal  questions  of  the  American  export  trade,  and  what  I  think  is  tl 
chief  point  to  get  the  trade  and  get  it  as  directly  as  possible,  because  we  in  Buenos 
Aires  are  sick  and  tired  of  paying  commissions— commissions  which  are  added  on. 
upon  the  other.     For  instance,  we  want  an  American  machine.     I  he  London  I 
will  have  the  exclusive  control  of  the  South  American  continent,  and  the  order  f 
the  machine  must  be  placed  through  an  export  agent.     The  man  m  London i  g ct 
his  commission,  and  so  on  all  the  way  down  the  line.    Try  to  get  your  trade  as  direct 
as  possible,  and  then,  as  I  said,  you  will  have  our  orders. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:     Gentlemen,  I  will  have  to  ask  you  tc .limit :  your 
questions.     While  Mr.   Santamarina,  who  has  given  us  this  excellent  talk    supple- 
menting that  of  Mr   Villegas,  is  looking  over  the  questions  that  have  been  hande< 
hi    I  will  ask  Mr    Noel  to  answer  as  briefly  as  he  can  the  questions  in  regard  to 
Peru. 

45 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  JOHN  VAVASOUR  NOEL,  EDITOR  OF 
PERU  TODAY,  LIMA,  PERU 

Mr.  NOEL  said : 

The  first  question  is  by  Mr.  Pierce  C.  Williams  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Pittsburg,  who  asks  me,  "What  is  the  present  market  for  bituminous  coal  in  Peru? 
Where  does  the  present  supply  come  from?"  Answering  the  question,  I  will  say  that 
the  principal  coal  comes  from  England  and  Australia  in  various  forms,  also  in 
brickets ;  and  that  the  last  statistics  I  find  to  the  value  of  four  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars, at  an  average  cost  of  from  eight  to  ten  dollars  a  ton.  There  is  also  some  coal 
imported  from  the  United  States,  but  the  principal  amount  of  coal  comes  from 
England  and  Australia. 

1  here  are  coal  mines  in  Peru — some  very  splendid  coal  mines,  which  the  lack 
of  transportation  facilities  have  yet  prevented  the  development  of.  These  mines  are 
located  principally  in  the  district  of  Yuramarca,  where  anthracite  coal  of  good  grade 
has  been  found,  and  which  the  construction  of  the  Chimbote-Recuay  Railroad,  which 
will  soon  be  completed,  will  make  it  commercially  feasible.  The  Cerro  del  Pasco 
Mining  Company  owns  two  coal  mines  twenty  miles  from  their  copper  plant,  but 
these  mines  have  been  developed  on  account  of  the  special  smelter  needs,  making 
coke  for  the  large  production  of  the  Cerro  del  Pasco  Mining  Company,  but  that 
proves  there  are  mines  capable  of  development  when  transportation  facilities  make 
it  practicable. 

I  have  here  several  questions  pertaining  to  electrical  development — electrical 
power — by  Mr.  E.  F.  Wickwire  of  the  Ohio  Brass  Company,  Mansfield,  Ohio,  who 
asks,  "What  are  the  prospects  for  electrical  power  or  railway  development?"  I  have 
another  question  more  or  less  on  the  same  subject  from  Louis  S.  Curt,  of  the  Asso- 
ciation of  Commerce,  Chicago,  111.,  "How  is  electricity  developing  all  over  the 
country  and  what  can  be  offered  to  encourage  a  line  of  electrical  signs  ?"  Mr.  E.  L. 
Reynolds  of  the  Electric  Storage  Battery  Company  of  Philadelphia,  asks  me,  "In 
the  United  States  are  now  being  purchased  many  small  lighting  plants  costing  from 
three  hundred  dollars  to  six  hundred  dollars,  consisting  of  small  gas  engines,  electric 
dynamo  and  storage  battery.  Is  there  a  field  amongst  farmers  and  small  establish- 
ments outside  the  zone  of  the  electric  light  stations  for  these  small  electric  plants?" 
.1  thought  it  best  to  read  these  three  questions  on  the  subject  of  electrical 
development  in  order  to  answer  them  altogether.  The  supplying  of  electricity  is 
very  highly  developed  in  Peru  in  the  Capital,  and  in  the  smaller  cities  there  are 
also  individual  electrical  plants  to  a  greater  proportion  than  in  the  United  States, 
and  we  find  many  places  where  they  have  skipped  gas  entirely.  The  water-powers 
are  very  large  and  very  important,  and  have  .been  utilized  and  will  be  utilized  in  the 
future  more  and  more,  and  the  General  Electric  Company  organized  the  work,  until 
the  street  car  railway  system  of  Peru,  of  Lima  and  the  suburban  service  and  the 
general  electric  service  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired,  and  I  think  some  of  the  fastest 
and  best  service  exists  between  Lima  and  Callao  and  their  suburbs. 

As  to  the  possibilities  of  electrical  railway  development,  as  I  understand  the 
question,  there  is  unquestionably  to  be  extensive  future  development:  and  the  Cerro 
del  Pasco  Copper  Mining  Company  is  planning  now  to  utilize  the  electrical  power 
in  its  works. 

Concerning  small  plants  as  referred  to  in  the  query  by  Mr.  Reynolds  of  three 
hundred  to  six  hundred  dollars  value,  I  will  say  that  the  large  electrical  installa- 
tions, of  which  there  are  some  very  stupendous  ones  in  Peru,  have  used  gas  plants 
or  electric-light  plants  for  many  years.  They  have  establishments  where  all  those 
conveniences  can  be  found — every  possible  convenience  imaginable. 

In  general  throughout  the  country  the  small  farmers  are  not  yet  ready  for 
that  sort  of  thing,  but  they  are  glad  to  become  acquainted  with  how  they  can  utilize 
the  advantages  of  those  plants. 

Mr.  T.  C.  Clifford  of  the  Pittsburg  Meter  Co.,  Pittsburg,  asks  whether  gas 
meters  are  used  in  Peru  and  Argentina — are  they  manufactured  there  or  in  Europe 
or  in  the  United  States?  Water  meters  are  not  used.  There  is  no  general  control 
over  the  general  amount  of  water  consumed,  as  a  rule,  and  gas  meters  have  been 
used  in  the  larger  cities  just  the  same  as  they  have  in  any  other  country. 

Mr.  Robert  Geddis  of  the  Jones  &  Laughlin  Steel  Company,  of  Pittsburg, 
asks  me,  "What  is  the  demand  for  rails  and  steel  products,  bars,  plates,  steel  for 
bridges  and  buildings  ?"  As  Mr.  Farrell  said  yesterday  in  his  address,  there  is  a 

46 


general  demand  for  these  products  in  Peru  as  in  any  other  country  but  I  do  not 
think  I  am  prepared  to  answer  this  in  detail,  except  to  say  that  there  is  a  derirlX5 
development  in  that  respect.  The  United  States  Steel  C^rporatbn  maintat  an 
agent  there,  who  is  very  active.  European  concerns  also  have  agents  and  there  is 
a  tendency  in  Peru  also  for  the  use  of  re-enforced  concrete,  which  is  bringing  about 
a  proportionate  demand  in  Peru  for  those  articles  as  in  the  other  Latin-American 
countries. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  We  are  very  glad  to  have  had  these  answers 
from  Mr.  Noel,  and  he  will  be  glad  to  take  up  other  questions  as  you  many  ask 
him  about  them.  I  am  now  going  to  ask  Mr.  Santamarina  to  answer  questions  that 
have  been  sent  in  with  regard  to  Argentina. 

MR.  SANTAMARINA:  Mr.  E.  L.  Reynolds  asks  if  there  are  possibilities  for 
light  and  power  purposes.  Yes,  we  need  to  further  our  small  but  rapidly  increasing 
industries  like  that  of  the  wine  trade,  for  instance. 

Mr.  Alva  Bayard,  La  Hacienda  Co.  of  Buffalo,  New  York,  asks,  "What  are  the 
present  and  future  possibilities  for  the  sale  of  gasoline  engines  in  Argentina?"  I 
will  say  there  is  a  great  demand  for  gas  engines  in  the  Argentine,  because  in  the 
larger  cities  where  we  have  got  no  fuel,  as  you  know,  because  we  have  no  coal  as 
yet  to  depend  on.  we  need  other  fuel,  and  here  gasoline  engines  certainly  accom- 
plish a  useful  result.  This  applies  to  our  small  light  plants  and  street  railroad  cars, 
but  the  question  is  to  introduce  the  gas  engines  into  the  Argentine  Republic  as  the 
Germans  have  done,  and  to  do  that  it  is. necessary  to  adopt  a  plan,  at  least  to  have 
a  competent  man  to  look  after  the  first  and  following  orders.  Now,  to  send  the 
gas  engines  down  there  with  simply  instructions  will  not  do.  I  know,  for  instance, 
that  the  Westinghouse  Company  shipped  into  the  Argentine  45  horse-power  gas 
engines,  and,  as  you  know,  the  Westinghouse  make  a  good  product,  yet  the  engine 
was  not  driven  for  three  months  because  there  was  nobody  who  understood  it,  and 
they  had  to  get  a  man  to  come  from  New  York  to  fix  it  up.  I  believe  in  the  future 
of  gas  engines  in  the  Argentine  Republic. 

Another  gentleman  from  Louisville  asks,  "Where  does  the  bulk  of  the 
Argentine  wheat  go?"  Well,  according  to  statistics,  I  think  that  our  crop  prin- 
cipally goes  to  the  United  Kingdom  and  to  Belgium. 

"Are  flour  mills  in  Argentina  using  American  machinery?"  I  think  a  very 
small  part  of  the  machinery  in  our  flour  mills  is  of  American  make.  The  Germans 
have  got  the  better  of  you.  They  have  sent  men  to  study  the  condition  of  the 
wheat  and  oats,  and  eventually  have  sent  their  machines  there,  which  are  now  work- 
ing very  well.  There  is  a  splendid  opportunity  for  flour  mill  machinery.  Of  course, 
we  get  our  entire  consumption  of  flour  from  our  own  flour  mills,  and  Argentine 
millers,  in  order  to  compete  with  prices,  are  necessarily  obliged  to  put  in  a  very 
modern,  up  to  date  plant.  So,  I  can  only  advise  the  manufacturers  of  flour  mill 
machinery  in  the  United  States  to  go  as  fast  as  they  can  after  the  trade  down  there. 
The  trade  is  there,  I  know,  and  you  can  get  the  order,  provided  you  put  good  men 
along  side  the  other  importers. 

Here  is  a  question  by  Mi.  Bryce  of  New  Haven,  who  asks  as  to  the  customs 
of  dress  and  to  what  extent  sewing  machines  are  used  in  the  families.  It  is  very 
gratifying  to  me  to  say  that  feathers  have  disappeared  in  the  Argentine  Republic. 
As  you  see  me  now,  I  am  quite  European,  and  sometimes  I  try  to  compete  with  the 
American  dressing. 

There  is  a  splendid  opportunity  for  sewing  machines,  and  as  a  proof  of  this 
there  is  hardly  a  home  in  the  Argentine  Republic,  it  does  not  matter  how  humble  or 
poor  the  people  are,  the  woman  will  have  a  sewing  machine  and  make  the  trousers 
for  her  husband.     But,  again,  it  is  a  very  difficult  trade.     You  take  the  Singer  sew- 
ing machine,  which   has  very  important  branches  throughout  the  Argentine,  who 
demonstrate  sewing  and  do  all  kinds  of  work  on  their  wonderful  machine.      f  you 
want  to  secure  the  sewing  machine  trade  you  have  got  to  go  and  get  that  trade. 
They  will  not  order  a  sewing  machine  from  you  voluntarily.     You  will  have :  to  go 
and  get  the  business  and  demonstrate  the  cheapness  and  the  superiority  of  your 
machine,  and  you  will  have  to  put  your  representatives  in  possession  of  the  s 
and  talking  point.     I  can  buy  a  sewing  machine  and  a  very  good  one  in  Arger 
at  a  dollar  a  month,  according  to  my  request,  and  if  you  are  going  on  a  cash  basi 
you  will  not  sell  one  single  machine.     As  to  clothing  I  will  say  that  we  also  have 
got  a  very  good  market,  especially  for  underwear.     We  have  a  very  small 
industry,  and   we  are  obliged  to  get  our  clothing  from  abroad.    We  have 

47 


industries  of  our  own,  but  they  cannot  provide  for  the  demand,  and  they  are  prac- 
tically monopolizing  the  trade. 

At  this  time  I  will  answer  the  questions  as  to  boots. 

Sometime  ago  our  people  seemed  to  think  they  must  have  European  boots 
and  shoes  because  they  seemed  to  fit  so  well.  But  they  now  seem  to  like  to  buy 
American  shoes,  and  I  have  a  pair  on  right  here.  I  think  cheap  boots  could  find  a 
market  in  the  Argentine  Republic,  although  I  will  say  that  one  of  the  smartest  plants 
has  been  established  by  the  United  States  Shoe  Machinery  Company.  They  have 
got  a  whole  outfit  working  right  in  our  exhibit. 

"What  are  the  possibilities  of  the  shoe  business?"  We  have  all  kinds  of 
shoes,  and  we  go  so  far  as  to  imitate  the  American  shoe,  and  put  an  American 
name  on  it.  Of  course,  this  is  done  in  every  country  and  every  trade,  especially 
in  the  perfume  business.  But  I  would  like  to  advise  the  American  shoe  manu- 
facturers to  go  down  and  study  the  conditions,  because  we  are  gradually  drift- 
ing into  American  boots  and  custom  of  dress  and  we  are  finding  that  your 
grades  of  shoes  are  more  comfortable  and  that  we  can  walk  as  quickly  as  you  do 
in  New  York  with  much  more  ease  when  we  are  using  American  boots,  and  we 
have  quit  the  European  style  altogether. 

Mr.  Lindemay,  representing  Eugene  Dietzgen  Company,  asks :  "What  other 
methods,  outside  of  sending  traveling  men  from  the  United  States  and  getting 
names  of  dealers  from  consuls,  can,  in  a  general  sense,  a  manufacturer  pursue  in 
order  to  place  his  goods  before  his  Argentine  clientele,  such  as  contractors,  railroads, 
public  works,  engineers,  etc.  ?"  I  am  satisfied  to  say  that  you  can  use  the  very  same 
methods  as  you  do  in  the  United  States.  There  is  not  the  slightest  difference,  only 
instead  of  taking  the  elevator,  you  take  the  steamer.  It  is  only  a  question  of  dis- 
tance. Buy  the  ticket  and  come  down  and  see  for  yourself;  you  may  not  believe  me. 

I  spoke  to  a  very  important  concern  in  New  York  not  very  long  ago,  and  they 
said,  "Mr.  Santamarina,  we  are  going  to  endeavor  to  do  some  business  in  the 
Argentine."  I  said,  "I  am  pleased  to  hear  it."  They  asked,  "What  shall  we  do 
in  order  to  accomplish  that?"  I  said,  "How  much  do  you  spend  in  advertising  in 
the  city  of  New  York?"  They  said,  "We  spend  about  $120,000."  Just  fancy  that 
much  in  order  to  get  the  trade?  So  I  said,  "How  much,  if  I  can  get  you  a  good 
agent,  would  you  like  to  spend  on  advertisement  in  Argentine  Republic?"  They 
said,  "Not  a  cent."  So  I  said,  "Good-by."  It  must  be  a  very  short-sighted  man 
who  cannot  see  the-  benefit  of  advertising.  Mind  you,  I  am  not  here  advertising 
the  advertisement  business;  but  you  have  got  to  employ  the  very  same  means  in 
the  Argentine  Republic  as  you  have  here  in  this  great  country — absolutely  the  same. 
Our  shops  are  the  same,  our  selling  methods  are  the  same — cash  against  goods  in 
retail  and  credit  for  dealers.  We  are  heavy  advertisers.  We  have  got  home  firms 
in  the  butter  and  meat  trade  that  spend  annually  thousands  of  dollars  to  get  the 
home  trade,  and  do  you  expect  to  get  it  for  nothing?  You  must  use  the  same 
means  as  you  use  at  home.  We  have  pages  in  some  of  the  papers  that  cost  us  as 
much  as  one  or  two  hundred  dollars  a  page  just  in  a  magazine.  We  have  a  stu- 
pendous circulation  of  those  magazines,  because  we  read  as  well  in  the  Argentine 
Republic,  and  read  much.  We  have  got  magazines  and  newspapers  that  would 
surprise  you.  We  have  newspapers  with  a  circulation  of  150,000,  practically  beating 
some  of  those  big  newspapers  in  New  York.  You  say,  "Is  this  true?"  I  say,  "Go 
and  see  for  yourselves."  We  read  a  great  deal,  and  consequently  in  a  country 
where  they  read  a  great  deal  advertising  will  always  pay.  It  is  useless  to  think  you 
can  do  anything  without  advertising.  There  is  not  a  country  that  possesses  so 
much  information  as  the  United  States.  Do  the  same  thing  in  the  Argentine 
Republic. 

There  is  a  very  important  question  from  Jones  &  Laughlin,  which  is  also  a 
very  important  concern:  "What  is  the  demand  for  rails  and  steel  products,  bars, 
plates,  steel  for  bridges  and  buildings,  etc.  ?"  I  cannot  find  words  to  describe  the 
importance  of  the  steel  industry  in  the  Argentine  Republic.  It  is  so  immense  that 
it  is  beyond  my  powers  of  eloquence  to  tell  you  how  iHs.  We  have  at  the  present 
moment  open  to  the  public  about  17,000  miles  of  railroads,  and  good  railroads. 
This  we  have  to  thank  the  English  for,  because  they  have  opened  the  country,  and  it 
is  only  fair  that  they  get  a  good  dividend. .  Our  government  has  realized  the  fact 
that  the  future  of  our  country,  in  order  to  get  as  great  as  we  want  to  make  it,  like 
the  United  States,  we  have  to  open  up  the  country.  In  the  southern  part  are  all 
kinds  of  wood,  which  is  just  as  good  as  any  in  the  world.  We  realize  we  cannot 

48 


get  the  wood  if  we  do  not  have  means  to  transport  it.    Our  sea  connections  from 
Buenos  Aires  to  Puenta  Arenas  are  not  as  good  as  they  should  be 

You  know  that  about  250,000000  acres  of  our  ground  is  fit  for  agricultural 
work.  We  cannot  expect  a  man  who  comes  to  Buenos  Aires  to  go  down  here  to 
Row-son  and  cultivate  and  compete,  if  he  does  not  have  the  opportunity  to  transoort 
his  goods  Consequently  we  need  everything  that  is  connected  with  railroads 
You  people  in  the  railroad  and  steel  products  business  know  how  difficult  it  is  to 
compete  in  that  kind  of  goods,  because  the  margin  of  profit  is  so  small  that  it  surely 
will  not  pay  to  advertise.  If  you  wish  to  get  the  profit  of  our  mines  and  railroads 
you  can  go  and  get  it  as  well,  if  not  better,  than  anybody  else,  because  we  realize 
as  far  as  the  railroads  are  concerned  the  world  must  take  off  its  hat  to  the  United 
States.  You  have  railroad  carriages,  locomotives,  turn  tables  and  all  kinds  of  rail- 
road material,  and  you  will  find  a  ready  sale  for  it. 

Our  people  will  buy  from  you,  but  not  as  a  favor,  because  it  is  past  our  time 
to  do  favors  for  anybody.  We  give  our  trade  to  the  best  man  and  the  man  who 
gives  us  the  best  for  our  money's  worth,  and  I  am  gratified  to  say  that  we  have 
placed  quite  a  number  of  orders  lately  in  the  United  States  for  railroad  materials. 

I  will  make  a  remark  here  about  the  locomotives,  which  I  saw  at  Buenos 
Aires,  and  which  were  of  Baldwin  make.  While  I  was  looking  at  the  Baldwin 
locomotive,  some  friends  of  mine  asked,  "What  do  you  think  of  the  finish?"  I 
replied,  "It  is  pretty  rough,  but  what  are  you  going  to  do  with  the  locomotive? 
Are  you  going  to  show  it  to  people  or  to  haul  people  with  it?"  That  was  just  the 
answer  the  Baldwin  representative  gave 'to  us,  and  I  believe  that  Baldwin  got  an 
order.  I  hope  so. 

There  is  every  scope  and  possibility  for  everything  in  the  iron  and  steel 
trades.  You  take  our  requirements  in  the  line  of  sheet  iron.  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  sending  an  order  to  the  American  St^el  and  Iron  Company  of  Middletown,  and 
I  told  the  representative  of  the  opportunities  in  Argentina.  Of  course,  competition 
is  very  keen,  but  I  believe  that  from  the  size  of  our  population  we  use  as  much  steel 
and  iron  as  any  other  country. 

Here,  I  believe,  is  the  last  question :  "What  menace  is  there  in  the  wood-boring 
or  wood-eating  insects  of  Argentina  and  Peru  in  the  matter  of  hardwood  products 
sent  to  those  countries,  such  as  interior  trim,  flooring,  etc.  ?"  Well,  outside  of  the 
mosquito,  I  am  not  very  familiar,  but  I  am  very  willing  to  have  an  insect  talk  with 
the  gentleman  after  the  conference,  or  tomorrow  or  any  time,  because  it  requires 
study  to  answer  him  intelligently,  there  are  so  many  insects. 

There  is  one  more  question  by  Mr.  Bernard  N.  Baker  of  Baltimore,  and  per- 
haps this  is  one  of  the  most  important. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Mr.  Baker  is  one  of  our  great  authorities  on 
shipping. 

MR.  SANTAMARINA  :  He  says,  "Will  American  ships  help  trade  and  assist  in 
establishing  banking  facilities?"  I  would  not  be  very  intelligent  if  I  did  not  think 
that  ships  would  help,  but  would  it  help  you  at  this  present  moment  with  the  present 
efforts?  I  think  we  have  some  representatives  here  of  the  New  York  shipping  com- 
panies who  will  be  better  able  to  answer  that  question  than  I  am.  Perhaps  not  with 
American  companies;  but  freights  are  so  low  that  I  would  say  conscientiously  that 
American  ships  would  help  the  export,  providing  you  give  them  the  same  European 
freights  or  the  same  freights  that  you  give  the  ship  of  England  or  Norway  from 
here  to  the  South  American  countries.  Whether  you  will  be  able  to  give  his  freight 
rate  or  not,  I  do  not  know,  but  I  doubt  it,  because,  if  you  get  the  ships  and  offer 
these  freights,  it  will  be  at  a  loss,  and  I  do  not  know  of  any  American  who  will  go 
into  business  to  lose  his  money.  But,  as  I  said  in  my  primary  speech,  it  is  necessary 
to  prepare  for  export  trade,  because  this  increase  of  practically  billions  demands 
ships  where  you  control  the  whole  trade.  I  venture  to  think  that  the  worst  war 
that  the  United  States  could  have  with  European  countries  would  be  with  boycotters 
of  the  shipping  trust.  That  is  the  capital  question,  whether  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment understands  what  they  have  to  do  to  meet  the  situation— to  sacrifice  part 
of  your  revenue  in  fostering  future  shipping  facilities  in  the  United  States, 
you  must  consider  it  and  you  must  get  it. 

As  to  the  banking  facilities,  I  do  not  think  that  shipping  is  dependent  upon 
it  except  in  an  indirect  way;  but  as  it  is  now,  it  is  advisable  that  you  go  down  there. 
You  have  plenty  of  financiers  and  clever  men.  You  have  got  men  that  will  surely 
take  shares  and  bonds  in  your  financial  enterprises  in  Buenos  Aires.  It  is  not  a 
question  of  courtesy,  it  is  not  a  question  of  offense,  but  it  is  a  question  o 

49 


ARGENTINA 


KINGDOM 
^  SO,  7-4-5,  O66 


TRA.KCZ- 
*  36, e?> 6,004 


We  are  in  business  to  compete.  You  must  have  a  bank.  It  has  been  talked  of 
long  ago.  I  remember  ten  years  ago  when  I  was  in  the  United  States  that  the  verv 
same  questions  were  put  to  me,  and  I  told  them  to  get  the  ships  and  to  get  the 
banks;  and  we  have  not  advanced  in  ten  years  where  things  grow  so  rapidly  I 
understand  it  is  to  the  advantage  of  your  export  trade  to  get  the  banks  It  is  verv 
easy  to  see  or  to  believe  that  the  German  bankers,  if  they  can,  will  help  their  clients 
and  they  are  surely  going  to  report  and  tell  them  all  your  trade  secrets. 

I  have  said  as  much  as  I  can  on  shipping  and  banking  without  preparation 
but  I  shall  be  very  pleased  to  answer  any  further  questions. 

As  regards  our  consular  service,  I  have  one  word  to  say.  I  understand  that 
the  American  consular  service  is  one  of  the  best.  I  have  to  take  off  my  hat  to 
the  consular  service  of  the  United  States.  I  think  you  are  served  as  well  as  any 
country  in  the  world,  and  we  are  trying  to  imitate  you.  We  have  a  consular 
office  in  the  city  of  New  York,  where  we  have  one  of  the  best  consuls  that  we  ever 
had.  I  shall  be  very  pleased  to  give  you  letters  or  to  otherwise  assist  you  in  estab- 
lishing your  trade  in  our  country. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  sure  that  we  are  all  very  grateful  to  Mr. 
Santamarina  and  to  Mr.  Noel.  Tonight  we  are  going  to  have  one  of  the  most 
interesting  lectures  imaginable,  by  perhaps  one  of  the  best  authorities  and  travelers 
in  the  world  on  Latin-America,  Mrs.  Harriet  Chalmers  Adams. 

I  have  great  pleasure  now  in  calling  upon  Mr.  Lewis  Nixon,  delegate  to  the 
United  States  Pan  American  Conference,  and  general  authority  on  business  matters. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  LEWIS  NIXON,  U.  S.  DELEGATE, 

PAN  AMERICAN  CONFERENCE,  BUENOS 

AIRES,  EXPERT  ON  SHIPPING 

Mr.  NIXON  said : 

Mr.  Director  General  and  Members  of  the  Conference:  I  had  expected  to 
attend  this  conference  more  as  a  looker-on  than  to  take  part  generally  in  the 
discussions  that  arose.  I,  in  common  with  all  those  who  have  gone  to  South 
America,  am  sensible  of  the  enthusiasm  not  only  of  South  Americans,  but  of  those 
who  have  seen  and  visited  them.  You  have  such  a  splendid  example  today  of  the 
type  of  South  American  public  man  in  Mr.  Santamarina.  His  conception  of  all  the 
trade  mechanisms,  his  thorough  understanding  of  the  trade  needs  and  the  trade 
conditions  of  his  own  country  and  of  all  other  countries  must  have  impressed  you 
and  given  you  an  idea  of  the  sort  of  a  man  that  you  will  deal  with  there;  and  I 
want  to  say  that  when  you  deal  with  them  you  will  find  them  your  equal  in  every 
possible  way  and  in  every  possible  capacity. 

Of  course,  I  was  impressed  by  the  splendid  address  of  Mr.  Manning,  especially 
with  his  abiding  faith  in  the  excellence  of  American  products  and  his  .belief  in  our 
future  faith,  based  upon  such  excellence.  So,  when  Mr.  Barrett  yesterday  tele- 
graphed to  me  that  he  wanted  me  to  make  an  address  here,  I  as  quickly  as  I  could 
dictated  a  few  general  remarks  upon  the  subject.  I  did  not  go  into  the  details  of 
trade  down  there,  because  I  realized  that  that  would  be  brought  to  you  in  a  much 
better  way  and  in  a  very  direct  way  by  others. 

In  regard  to  sewing  mechines,  I  have  seen  in  little  Indian  huts  way  up  in 
Bolivia  American  sewing  machines,  and  they  pronounced  them  good  and  were  using 
them.  They  had  bought  them  on  the  installment  plan.  I  learned  of  a  most  inter- 
esting case.  A  man  had  a  large  consignment  of  Singer  sewing  machines  that  were 
too  heavy  for  the  local  mules,  and  he  had  to  go  hundreds  of  miles  into  the  country 
to  get  great  mules  to  carry  those  machines,  so  they  would  not  have  to  take  them 
apart. 

I  saw  at  the  exhibition  at  Buenos  Aires  pneumatic  tools,  and  for  a  long  time 
we  led  the  world   in   that.    They  were  American  pneumatic  tools   in   everything 
except  the  making,  and  they  were  made  by  a  branch  house  in  London  or  near 
London;  but,  as  I  say,  I  will  not  go  into  those  details,  but  will  leave  them  for  tl 
most  interesting  and  valuable  discussion,  and  simply  cover  a  few  points. 

Since  commerce  includes  both  trade  and  transportation  we  must  in  comi 
conference  take  account  of  the  machinery  as  well  as  the  commodities  of  commerce. 

To  be  simply  producers  and  consumers  with  transportation,  insurance,  banking 
and  the  middleman's  profits  generally  in  alien  hands  means  that  in  these  nan< 
the  power  to  regulate  our  participation  in  such  trade. 


The  Director  General  of  the  Pan  American  Union  has  called  this  conference 
in  order  that  the  commercial  interests  of  our  country  may  be  prepared  for  the  open- 
ing of  the  Panama  Canal. 

The  trade  over  the  Tehauntepec  railroad  last  year  was  about  $70,000,000  in 
value,  this  showing  the  quick  response  which  has  met  the  facilities  offered  by  that 
road. 

That  the  Isthmian  trade  in  general  will  increase  to  vast  proportions  as  better 
facilities  are  provided  is  plainly  evident. 

Even  should  this  Mexican  railroad  by  multiplication  of  tracks  and  refinements 
in  terminal  freight  handling  appliances  be  able  to  attract  a  large  share  of  such  trade, 
the  general  result  will  be  favorable  to  the  United  States 

Before  the  building  of  the  Suez  Canal,  England  was  in  much  better  position 
in  her  Eastern  trade  than  after  its  opening. 

When  Irish  flax  gave  way  to  Amercan  cotton,  and  England  found  herself 
with  great  industrial  cities  drawn  from  the  neighboring  country,  the  necessity  for 
the  lowest  cost  of  living  brought  about  the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws,  and  the  lower 
wages  possible  with  the  cheapest  of  good  products  fixed  a  low  standard  of  labor 
productive  cost,  which,  while  not  fully  matched  in  the  economy  of  mechanical  and 
operating  administration,  gave  England  the  lead,  much  of  which  she  still  retains. 
Cheap  living  for  the  wage  earners  and  the  wiping  out  of  tariff  charges  on  raw 
material  and  food  products  transformed  England  into  a  machine  shop  for  the  world. 

Not  satisfied  to  handle  only  her  own  commerce,  England  became  the  middle- 
man for  all  peoples.  There  focused  the  vessels  bringing  in  raw  material  from  all 
the  world.  She  passed  some  through  her  factories  and  then  distributed  the  rest  and 
part  of  her  makings  to  Europe.  Naturally,  as  a  sequence,  to  England  in  return  came 
European  products,  and  the  vessels  that  brought  in  raw  material  in  turn  took  out 
finished  products  of  England,  and  the  rest  of  Europe  from  England  to  the  rest  of 
the  world. 

So  long  as  trade  went  around  the  Cape,  England  was  the  natural  entrepot 
of  Europe.  But  the  opening  of  the  Suez  Canal  stimulated  a  Mediterranean  trade, 
and  great  ports,  such  as  Odessa,  Alexandria,  Naples,  Trieste,  Genoa  and  Marseilles, 
have  arisen,  these  doing  direct  trade  with  the  Orient  without  the  necessity  of  passing 
through  England. 

Up  to  1872  England  was  mistress  of  the  world's  trade  and  transportation  to 
such  an  extent  that  she  might  have  continued  so  in  spite  of  the  readjustment  to  her 
disadvantage  due  to  the  opening  of  the  Suez  Canal. 

Germany  and  the  United  States,  however,  both  began  a  contest  for  the  trade 
of  the  world  in  competition  with  Great  Britain,  nursing  their  industries  behind 
tariff  barriers,  and  each  has  shown  a  constant  gain  since  1881.  But  England's  ships 
and  English  middlemen  still  carried  the  goods  and  acted  as  brokers,  bankers,  under- 
writers and  agents. 

However,  Prince  Bismarck,  clearly  sensing  the  true  value  of  transportation 
and  ocean  commerce,  in  1881  appealed  to  the  Reichstag  for  preference  for  the  Ger- 
man ship.  Germany  in  1885  established  mail  lines  to  China,  Austria  and  Japan,  and 
since  1885  has  so  encouraged  German  shipbuilding  and  ship  owning  that  her  tonnage 
is  now  over  four  millions,  and  one  of  the  lines  has  the  largest  tonnage  in  the  world 
under  one  management — greater  than  our  entire  tonnage  in  the  foreign  trade. 

England,  while  still  the  great  carrier  and  manufacturer,  is  no  longer  the  step- 
ping stone  to  Europe's  trade,  but  continental  European  imports  and  exports  now 
pass  her  by  as  they  are  carried  through  the  English  Channel.  Hamburg  has  become 
the  Liverpool  and  Chicago  of  Northern  Europe. 

These  facts  are  only  mentioned  that  we  may  draw  some  lessons  from  them. 
The  Panama  Canal  will  not  act  as  a  passageway  for  quicker  access  of  other  nations 
to  markets  of  value  to  us.  It  brings  us  into  direct  touch  with  the  western  coast 
of  South  America,  and  makes  our  flourishing  coasting  fleets  on  the  two  oceans  prac- 
tically one. 

The  saving  to  us  in  distances  to  various  parts  of  the  world  have  been  so  often 
given  as  not  to  need  repetition.  Suffice  to  say,  it  gives  us  great  advantages.  Are 
we  wise  enough  to  profit  by  them?  What  is  our  position  today?  We  are  producers 
and  consumers.  Commodities  leaving  our  borders  are  not  marketed  by  us,  are  not 
carried  by  us,  are  not  underwritten  by  us  and  are  not  financed  by  us.  The  cream 
of  commerce  goes  to  others  who  do  these  things  for  us. 

It's  just  as  important  for  us  to  be  self-contained  in  our  foreign  trade  as  it  is 
in  our  trade  at  home.  Think  of  the  cost  of  a  dozen  eggs  or  a  pound  of  butter  at 

52 


the  farm  house  and  the  retail  cost  in  the  city.     In  our  foreign  trade  this  country 
occupies  the  position  of  the  farmer. 

The  three  pillars  of  a  nation's  independence  and  commercial  prosperity  are 
commerce,  agricultural  and  manufacturing.  All  must  be  conserved  or  in  the  end 
all  will  languish.  A  nation's  resources  may  be  so  great  that  for  a  time  it  can  be 
indifferent  to  this  economic  axiom,  but  only  for  a  time. 

So  before  referring  to  a  number  of  factors  deemed  essential  to  the  furtherance 
of  South  American  commerce,  I  shall  first  speak  of  the  necessity  for  an  American 
merchant  marine,  because  the  establishment  of  such  a  marine  upon  a  sound  basis 
will  bring  with  it  the  other  factors  as  necessary  auxiliaries. 

We  are  met  at  the  outset  with  the  argument  that  the  people  and  the  capital 
of  the  United  States  of  America  are  better  employed  in  developing  their  own  internal 
resources  and  that  the  commodities  of  trade  should  be  carried  by  those  already 
possessing  and  controlling  the  means  of  ocean  commerce. 

If  we  suffer  our  various  products  to  be  interchanged  solely  through  the 
medium  of  transportation  systems  foreign  to  our  own  control,  such  systems  will  be 
able  after  portioning  out  our  trade  to  their  self-interest  to  inflict  inferior  service  at 
disadvantageous  rates.  The  commerce  now  carried  on  between  the  nations  of  the 
American  Hemisphere  is  increasing  rapidly,  and  with  such  increase  there  is  forming 
an  ever-strengthening  control  of  its  carriage  by  ships  of  another  hemisphere. 

With  buying,  selling,  banking,  insurance  and  transportation  developed  to  a 
degree  that  defies  successful  or  possible  exercise  of  such  factors  of  commerce  by 
ourselves,  we  shall  be  reduced  to  the  position  of  simple  producers  and  consumers, 
giving  of  our  labor  and  our  resources  to  enrich  alien  peoples. 

In  many  cases  the  disposition  and  the  price  received  by  the  producer  are  fixed 
by  the  carrier,  so  essentially  necessary  are  trade  connections  and  distributive  agencies 
to  the  great  maritime  fleets  of  the  present  day,  and  such  powers  are  of  course  used 
when  possible  to  advance  the  material  interest  of  their  own  countries.  While  delay 
too  long  will  be  fatal,  and  the  oceans  may  be  parcelled  out  to  spheres  of  influence, 
any  delay  results  in  making  the  effort  to  free  ourselves  from  foreign  tribute  less  and 
less  likely  of  successful  accomplishment. 

As  more  and  more  is  received  from  interchange  with  one  another,  the  cost 
of  carriage  upon  what  is  carried  should  decrease.  So  long,  however,  as  the  pools, 
conferences,  combines  and  monopolies  of  another  hemisphere  control  inter-American 
trade  they  can  keep  up  the  transportation  charges  in  our  trade  as  well  as  theirs  and 
continue  to  throttle  the  flow  of  trade  to  our  disadvantage. 

We  need  such  means  of  regulating  commerce  that  our  trade  shall  not  bear 
toll  charges  radically  out  of  proportion  to  actual  cost.  Otherwise  we  must  be  con- 
tent with  the  trade  that  comes  to  us  not  through  our  enterprise,  but  in  spite  of  our 
lack  of  it. 

The  United  States  is  a  world  power  and  vitally  interested  in  world  commerce. 
As  nations  increase  in  wealth  and  desires,  ocean  carriage  augments  in  volume  and 
importance.  We  have  of  late  been  paying  great  attention  to  monopoly  at  home 
while  a  menace  of  vast  portent  has  grown  up  on  the  oceans. 

Our  commerce  must  not  be  monopolized  by  England,  Germany  or  Japan  or 
other  nations,  for  monopoly  leads  always  to  abuse ;  the  poorest  service  that  will  be 
borne  at  the  highest  rates.  We  are  faced  upon  the  ocean  by  a  monopoly  of  ship- 
building, of  commerce  and  of  the  arts  and  accessories  of  navigation.  Such  a  condi- 
tion threatens  our  prosperity  and  independence. 

If  great  fleets  can  be  built  and  grow  constantly  in  size  and  profit  earnings 
on  the  trade  which  we  furnish,  no  valid  argument  can  be  advanced  to  prove  that  we 
cannot  turn  the  vast  sums  now  pouring  into  foreign  coffers  to  the  enrichment  of  our 
own  people.     Only  a  few  weeks  ago,  after  being  told  that  my  desire  for  a  power  to 
regulate  freight  rates  on  the  ocean  was  foolish  because  competition  and  cheapness 
do  that,  I  read  that  the  South  American  Steamship  combine  had  decreed  a  radi< 
increase  in  freight  rates  between  our  ports  and  markets  to  the  South  of  us.    1  c 
that  competition  secures  cargoes,  and  assert  that  preference  secures  them.     1  deny 
that  proof  can  be  brought  to  show  logically  that  given  the  great  commercial  sea 
plant  and  freight  connections  we  once  had  we  cannot  carry  just  as  cheaply  as  any 
foreigner.     We  did  it  in  the  past,  even  with  higher  wages  and  more  expensive  ships. 
We  are  doing  it  today  in  spite  of  fair  wages  on  the  Lakes^    On  our  railroads,  with 
far  higher  wages  than  in  Europe,  we  carry  a  ton  of  freight  a  mile  at  a  charge 
European  roads  are  powerless  to  meet. 

53 


The  Act  of  1828,  suspending  our  right  to  charge  a  differential  tonnage  tax, 
was  a  free  gift — without  any  compensating  benefit  to  us  of  $700,000,000  in  this  item 
alone,  and  in  driving  our  flag  off  the  ocean  the  loss  has  been  fully  ten  times  that  sum. 

Yet  we  plume  ourselves  on  our  internal  development.  We  developed  a  small 
part  of  a  continent  while  our  trade  rivals  pre-empted  the  trade  routes  of  the  Seven 
Seas.  And  with  the  money  taken  from  us  through  the  carrying,  manufacturing  and 
vending  of  our  raw  material  they  have  been  enabled  to  invest  millions  here  and  in 
other  countries  in  their  internal  upbuilding  with  which  to  continue  for  years  to  come 
the  tribute. 

Had  we  fostered  our  marine  instead  of  destroying  it  we  could  have  furnished 
the  money  as  well  as  the  brains  and  muscle  for  our  own  internal  development. 

As  regards  the  Panama  Canal,  speaking  personally,  I  think  it  should  be  made 
a  free  highway  for  vessels  flying  the  American  flag.  The  statesmanship  which 
inspired  the  Monroe  Doctrine  gave  expression  to  the  idea  that  there  was  a  fraternal 
bond  uniting  the  American  States  by  which  closer  union  and  co-operation  are  pos- 
sible amongst  them  than  with  any  of  them  and  European  States. 

So  in  furtherance  of  this  I  would  throw  this  Canal  open  to  all  American 
flags  now  flying  on  any  ship  or  in  the  future  flying  on  vessels  of  domestic  build, 
meaning  by  this  vessels  built  on  any  land  of  the  Western  Hemisphere. 

What  will  benefit  one  of  the  American  States  will  in  intimate  co-operation 
benefit  all,  so  I  should  like  to  see  the  fullest  reciprocity  throughout  the  hemisphere, 
with  proper  safeguards  to  prevent  any  one  State  being  used  as  a  sluiceway  for 
European  or  Asiatic  goods  to  reach  the  others.  Let  the  home  market  extend  from 
pole  to  pole. 

Brazil  already  extends  a  special  discrimination  in  our  favor  of  20  per  cent, 
on  cement  and  a  number  of  other  articles  which  figure  in  the  return  cargo  to  that 
country.  We  should  certainly  exhaust  reciprocal  possibilities  in  developing  return 
cargoes.  It  should  not  be  possible  for  a  line  of  any  American  flag  to  be  refused 
railroad  and  through  billing  privileges  enjoyed  by  any  other  lines  in  our  ports  any 
more  than  it  should  be  possible  to  send  shoes  from  London  to  Kansas  City  more 
cheaply  than  from  New  York  to  Kansas  City. 

And  I  would  also  extend  the  coasting  laws  by  treaty  to  all  of  North,  Central 
and  South  America,  with  the  same  restrictions  as  to  build  and  flag  as  for  the  privi- 
lege of  navigating  the  Canal. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  suggest  means  for  upbuilding  our  merchant  marine. 

Outside  of  the  necessity  for  a  merchant  marine  to  balance  our  foreign  com- 
merce, we  need  American  ships  if  we  are  to  get  our  due  share  of  South  American 
trade,  and  as  Congress  must  regulate  commerce,  Congress  must  provide  a  way 
through  regulations. 

One  can  take  a  good  steamer  almost  daily  to  Europe  from  Buenos  Aires,  for 
example.  As  he  can  do  so  once  a  month  to  the  United  States,  it  is  the  rule  to  come 
here  via  Europe,  but  usually  even  when  the  start  is  for  the  United  States,  many 
stay  in  Europe. 

The  countries,  too,  that  trade  with  that  port  have  vessels  under  their  own 
flags,  we  being  the  one  nation  altruistic  enough  to  think  that  charity  begins  abroad. 

I  am  satisfied  that  had  we  vessels  running  from  the  ports  of  the  United  States 
to  the  ports  of  other  American  States,  equal  in  comfort  and  convenience  to  those 
from  any  port  in  Europe  and  of  such  speed  that  duration  of  voyage  under  analagous 
conditions  are  less  from  the  ports  of  the  United  States  than  from  the  great  com- 
mercial ports  of  Europe,  we  should  develop  within  two  years  a  tourist  and  buyer 
travel  that  would  result  in  an  increased  trade  of  many  millions  a  year. 

Through  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  American  States,  instead  of  being  portioned 
out  to  spheres  of  influence  by  the  great  trading  powers  of  Europe,  enjoy  the  benefits 
of  keen  competition  amongst  those  who  wish  their  trade. 

While  I  found  that  the  purchaser  in  South  America  usually  wants  the  best 
and  is  willing  to  pay  for  it,  we  know  that  in  the  long  run  to  secure  and  maintain 
a  market  for  our  products  we  must  be  able  to  produce  as  good  an  article  at  a  less 
price  or  a  better  article  at  the  same  price  as  our  competitor.  Cheap  money  next  to 
low  labor  cost  is  the  most  important  factor  in  manufacturing  and  stable  financial 
conditions,  the  great  influence  in  removing  the  timidity  which  deters  from  those 
far-sighted  and  enduring  programs  that  cannot  be  undertaken  where  unexpected 
loan  calls  are  liable.  Our  people  are  rapidly  being  educated  to  the  fact  that  credit 
and  not  cash  is  the  mainstay  of  a  proper  financial  system.  Certainly  a  change  in 

54 


our  monetary  system  is  most  essential  if  we  are  to  become  an  export  nation  of 
manufactured  articles. 

Today  to  pay  for  our  products  sent  to  South  America  the  purchaser  buys  a 
draft  on  London  or  Berlin.  This  can  be  financed,  be  it  for  a  long  or  short  time 
A  draft  on  New  York  would  probably  lie  in  the  safe  till  maturity. 

Direct  banking  facilities  must  be  had  or  we  shall  find  ourselves  taxed  by 
those  who  do  provide  the  facilities  from  ft  to  il/2  per  cent,  on  all  our  business,  while 
their  home  offices  learn  our  prices,  terms  of  payment  and  every  trade  secret  to  be 
gleaned  from  the  papers  passing  through  their  hands.  This  apart  from  good  bank- 
ing profit.  It  cost  me  in  Buenos  Aires  $4-97^  for  English  sovereigns,  paid  on  a 
letter  of  credit  in  sovereigns  on  one  of  London's  greatest  banks. 

We  should  be  able  to  insure  our  own  ships  and  goods.  We  favored  after  the 
Civil  War  the  foreign  marine  insurance  companies  to  such  an  extent  that  we  have 
practically  driven  our  own  people  out  of  this  business,  with  its  overwhelming  influ- 
ence upon  the  selection  of  ships  and  conditions  of  shipment.  Much  of  the  splendid 
work  done  in  upbuilding  the  German  marine  is  due  to  their  escaping  the  exactions 
and  restrictions  of  foreign  underwriters.  Certainly  our  Government  should  penalize 
any  discrimination  against  our  ships  on  the  part  of  foreign  companies  doing  business 
here. 

There  might  be  found  constitutional  ways  in  which  the  Government  could 
aid  in  insuring  ships  and  commodities  in  the  foreign  trade. 

We  are  blessed  here  with  a  decimal  system  of  currency,  but  still  adhere  to  an 
antiquated  and  cumbersome  system  of  weights  and  measures.  Put  yourself,  for  an 
example,  in  the  place  of  some  man  without  tables  handy  who  wants  a  tank  to  hold 
so  many  litres  and  who  struggles  with  calculations  involving  inches  and  feet  and 
gallons,  and  finally  ends  by  buying  from  some  nation  using  an  intelligent  system 
in  the  units  of  which  he  can  think. 

We  should  begin  to  think  and  deal  in  everyday  life  in  metric  units  and  force 
our  children  to  think  in  them.  It  would  not  lead  to  any  great  change  to  adopt  as  a 
trade  coin  for  the  American  States  a  uniform  gold  peso  dollar  which  would  circu- 
late freely  in  all  the  Americas.  If  this  could  be  brought  about,  China  would  fall  in 
line,  as  the  Chinese  already  know  the  dollar  and  think  in  dollar  values,  and  we 
should  then  have  millions  of  people  fully  appreciating  our  quotations  without  the 
mental  effort  of  reducing  to  another  denomination. 

The  best  people  to  sell  goods  are  those  who  make  them.  We  must  introduce 
our  products  by  our  own  agents.  It's  true  we  have  our  own  cities  filled  with  aliens 
who  handle  our  business  for  us,  but  this  will  all  be  changed  when  we  become  a 
trading  nation  again. 

For  the  next  ten  years  there  should  be  an  American  Bourse  in  every  capital 
of  Latin  America  conducted  by  agents  of  our  Government,  where  our  sellers  can 
show  their  wares  to  the  best  advantage  and  at  the  least  expense. 

I  find  not  only  in  South  America,  but  particularly  in  Europe,  copying  of  trade 
marks  and  the  palming  off  of  European  goods  as  American  made.  Treaties  should 
be  entered  into  with  all  the  countries  of  the  world  by  which  every  exported  article 
shall  bear  a  national  certificate  of  origin  mark,  the  counterfeiting  or  changing  of 
which  shall  be  severely  punished  in  the  country  where  the  crime  is  committed.  This 
would  not  interfere  with  trade  marks,  but  would  aid  their  object. 

My  collegiate  friends  will,  I  know,  pardon  me  when  I  say  that  the  study  of 
Spanish  and  Portuguese  and  French  will  train  the  mind  just  as  well  as  Latin  or 
Greek.  Every  common  school  of  this  country  should  make  the  study  of  Spanish 
obligatory,  and  those  who  manage  our  universities  would  be  doing  a  vast  good  for 
their  country's  commercial  future  if  they  would  permit  the  alternative  of  either 
Spanish  or  German  in  entrance  examinations.  The  business  men  of  the  country 
in  selecting  agents  should  take  men  in  all  cases  who  speak  the  language  of  the 
country  to  which  they  are  sent. 

And  now  to  the  many  men  who  are  here  to  study  this  pressing  problem  of 
newer  and  broader  markets  I  am  going  to  offer  a  word  of  advice. 

You  travel,  all  of  you ;  if  you  do  not  you  ought  to. 

Let  the  next  visit  be  to  Latin  America.  Your  welcome  will  be  sincere.  You 
will  find  just  as  much  of  interest  there  as  in  Europe.  You  will  meet  great  con- 
structive statesmen,  and  capable  and  brainy  men  in  every  walk  of  life.  You  will 
see  much  that  is  instructive  and  learn  much  of  value  to  you.  They  are  working 
out  the  problems  of  representative  republicanism  as  we  are,  an< 

55 


the  inspiration  there  to  appreciate  that  Americanism  is  too  broad  and  too  enduring 
to  be  confined  to  any  one  State  or  section. 

You  will  all  be  better  from  having  gone  and  you  will  all  go  again. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  now  have  pleasure  in  calling  on  Mr.  Lorenzo 
Daniels,  manager  of  the  Lamport  &  Holt  Steamship  Company,  to  say  a  few  words. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  LORENZO  DANIELS 
LAMPORT  C&  HOLT  STEAMSHIP  CO. 

Mr.  DANIELS  said: 

Mr.  Barrett  has  rather  advanced  my  position  of  making  a  few  remarks  so  as 
to  permit  me  to  leave.  It  necessitates,  however,  my  following  the  gentlemen  that 
have  preceded  me,  who  are  so  skilled  in  the  art  of  oratory,  and  I  am  afraid  I  shall 
very  much  have  to  regret  that  I  have  not  given  it  more  attention  so  as  to  be  able  to 
hold  an  argument  with  them  at  all. 

At  yesterday's  meeting  President  Taft  and  Speaker-elect  Clark  both  stated 
that  our  manufacturers  are  seeking  wider  fields  for  their  sales ;  also  foreshadowed 
the  probable  importations  from  producing  countries  of  raw  materials.  The  Presi- 
dent also  said  it  was  quite  easy  to  say  all  these  things  in  a  hurry,  but  a  different 
matter  to  work  them  out  quietly  and  with  proper  wisdom.  The  gentlemen  that 
have  also  preceded  have  to  my  mind  struck  on  the  keynote  of  the  development  of 
American  trade,  in  that  it  is  necessary  to  become  personally  acquainted  in  those 
countries.  In  the  case  of  South  America  giving  her  business  to  foreign  countries — 
England,  France  and  Germany — largely  because  it  is  peopled  from  these  countries 
who  have  taken  their  concessions,  who  have  supplied  their  material,  and  naturally 
they  go  home  to  make  their  purchases. 

Of  course,  there  are  reasons  why  the  United  States  has  not  gone  abroad, 
reasons  why  American  houses  have  not  established  organizations  and  houses  abroad. 
It  is  unquestionably  coming,  and  I  think  we  are  all  looking  forward  to  the  time 
and  planning  and  hoping  to  profit  by  it.  Mr.  Barrett  asked  me  to  prepare  a  few 
lines  on  ocean  commerce,  and  I  will  take  up  the  subject. 

Ocean  transportation  is  an  open  trade  and  is  practically  always  a  question 
of  supply  and  demand.  Of  late  years  the  question  has  largely  been  with  the  amount 
of  the  demand,  the  amount  of  supply  has  been  in  excess  of  the  commercial  needs 
and  shipping  generally  all  over  the  world,  with  few  favored  exceptions,  has  for  the 
last  six  or  seven  years — in  fact  since  the  time  of  the  Boer  War — gone  through  a 
period  of  continued  depression,  resulting  in  first  the  loss  of  profits  in  dividends  and 
next  in  failures  and  reorganizations  in  many  of  the  shipping  companies  of  the  world. 

The  ocean  and  the  large  waterways  of  the  world  are  open  to  all,  and  if  a 
surplus  of  cargo  is  offering  at  the  River  Plate  and  a  dearth,  we  will  say  in  the 
North  Atlantic  or  the  Indies,  steamers  that  were  bound  for  the  latter  places  will 
soon  turn  their  bows  and  be  on  their  way  to  answer  the  cargo  call  for  tonnage 
space.  In  this  way  we  can  speak  of  the  tonnage  market  of  the  world  as  more  or 
less  established  and  an  open  market,  fluctuating  with  the  demand  and  the  lack  of  it. 

A  certain  amount  of  commerce  is,  however,  established  and  might  be  called 
the  fixed  minimum  trade  requirements.  To  cover  this  need  has  developed  the  estab- 
lishment of  regular  lines  of  steamers.  They  in  turn  adapt  their  appointments  to 
the  special  needs  of  the  class  of  trade  they  are  called  upon  to  serve.  We  have 
refrigerator  steamers  in  trades  that  require  this  class  of  boat;  fast  steamers  where 
the  cargoes  are  perishable  or  are  of  high  value ;  especially  constructed  ore  and  oil 
steamers  and  express  and  slow  steamers  in  the  passenger  trades,  and  so  on. 

Investors  in  tonnage,  like  other  investors,  look  for  a  business  in  which  to 
invest  their  money  that  will  show  a  return  and  a  safe  margin  of  profit  in  -its  opera- 
tion. In  the  shipping  trade  there  are  many  risks;  the  depreciation  is  very  large 
and  the  insurance  risks  high.  Each  generation  finds  the  same  old  ocean,  but  an 
advanced  type  of  steamship  ploughing  through  its  waters.  The  question  of  pro- 
viding a  suitable  resting  place  for  the  old  timers  has  never  been  satisfactorily  dis- 
covered. An  old  steamer,  after  passing  down  the  line,  ends  in  a  coal  hulk  or  is 
broken  up  in  the  shipyard.  A  progressive  steamship  line  must  so  regulate  its 
steamers  that  practically  every  few  years  new  steamers  are  placed  at  the  head  of 
its  fleet.  Steamers  like  the  "Mauretania"  of  the  Cunard  Line  cost  a  very  large 
amount  of  money,  not  only  in  the  original  construction,  but  in  the  daily  operation, 

56 


and  these  steamers  can  only  be  used  in  the  very  highest  class  of  ocean  traffic.  The 
common  tramp,  built  as  simply  as  is  possible  and  run  as  economically  as  is  possible 
is  the  soldier  of  the  line  and  the  base  for  opening  up  all  general  ocean  traffic  and 
providing  a  means  for  carrying  the  cheaper,  bulkier  and  rougher  cargoes;  and  is 
replaced  in  the  development  of  a  trade  by  fast  and  special  steamers  as  the  class  of 
the  business  develops  to  require  such  service. 

I  presume  I  am  expected  to  treat  more  especially  on  the  transportation  facili- 
ties between  North  and  South  America— Brazil,  Argentine  Republic  and  the  United 
States — with  which  I  have  been  closely  associated  for  many  years. 

I  can  look  back  twenty-five  years  in  the  development  of  this  trade,  and  my 
office  records  will  show  back  a  further  fifteen  to  twenty  years.  Dating  back  to  my 
early  experience,  the  steamers  coming  in  from  Brazil — no  steamers  until  the  las't 
few  years  came  from  ports  farther  south — were  of  1000  to  1500  tons  register — two 
to  three  thousand  tons  of  cargo  each — and  were  considered  large  and  able  steamers. 
Today  the  steamers  are  of  8000  to  9000  tons  register,  with  carrying  capacities  as 
high  as  15,000  tons  of  cargo.  I  have  before  me  a  list  of  steamers  that  have  been 
dispatched  from  New  York  to  the  ports  in  the  Argentine  Republic  during  the  year 
1910,  totalling  135  steamers  of  592,150  registered  tonnage  and  carrying  cargoes 
totaling  over  750,000  tons.  This  from  New  York  to  the  River  Plate  alone.  These 
steamers  have  been  dispatched  with  a  fair  degree  of  regularity  and  average  nearly 
12  a  month  throughout  the  year. 

The  rates  of  freight  for  all  this  tonnage — a  large  export  of  merchandise — 
have  to  my  own  knowledge  been  on  the  basis  of  anything  but  a  satisfactory  one  to 
the  capital  invested  in  the  steamers,  and  have  practically  allowed  no  dividend  or 
interest  on  the  capital  thus  employed.  I  am  glad  to  say  that  general  conditions  all 
over  the  world  in  shipping  have  lately  shown  a  slight  improvement,  and  we  are 
hoping  that  this  improvement  will  continue. 

From  New  York  to  Brazil  I  have  not  the  tabulated  figures  before  me,  but 
the  same  proportionate  amount  of  tonnage  has  been  dispatched.  I  should  estimate 
the  total  number  of  boats  dispatched  from  New  York  amounts  to  about  150  sailings 
during  the  year,  not  including  full  oil,  coal  and  lumber  cargoes  or  steamers  that  have 
been  dispatched  from  other  ports  than  New  York. 

From  Brazil  to  New  York  the  number  of  steamers  is  in  excess  of  the  south- 
bound voyage — probably  half  as  many  again — showing,  gentlemen,  the  volume  of 
traffic  moving  between  the  countries  and  the  ample  and  able  transportation  accom- 
modations that  are  furnished  by  the  different  lines  now  in  the  business. 

Passengers  are  provided  with  accommodations  that  compare  very  favorably 
with  the  comfortable  slower  traveling  class  of  ships  in  the  Atlantic  trade,  and  also 
with  the  ships  that  travel  from  Europe  to  similar  countries  in  South  America — the 
class  of  ships  that  this  long  voyage  requires.  The  travel,  however,  between  this 
country  and  both  Brazil  and  the  Argentine  is  small  as  compared  to  the  travel  from 
other  countries  or  of  Americans  to  the  countries  of  Europe.  This  is  accounted  for 
by  the  comparatively  few  personal  interests  that  Americans  today  have  in  either  the 
people  or  the  industries  of  South  America,  but  with  the  increase  of  American  inter- 
ests in  these  countries  and  the  settlement  there  of  American  families,  this  travel 
will  grow.  Immigration  either  from  the  United  States  to  South  America,  or  vice 
versa,  does  not,  of  course,  exist. 

The  tourist  has  not  as  yet  turned  to  South  America  in  any  numbers,  but  con- 
ditions of  travel  and  of  enjoying  a  visit  to  these  countries  are  daily  improving,  and 
the  many  natural  attractions  and  historical  relics  and  associations  of  South  America 
must  sooner  or  later  prove  a  strong  attraction  to  a  traveler  who  would  be  well 
posted  on  all  the  countries  of  the  world.     It  is  further  to  be  expected  that  American 
enterprise  and  capital  will  soon  interest  themselves  in  the  large  industries  of  bouth 
America  and  in  the  development  of  the  railways,  mines  and  other  commercial  enter- 
prises incident  to  the  fast  growth  and  possibilities  of  this  part  of  the  world.  >  bouth 
America  has  today  the  same  lines  of  development  and  the  same  possibilities  f- 
making  fortunes  as  the  last  generation  or  two  have  so  successfully  unfolded  i 
own  country.     Nearly  every  steamer  sailing  carries  some  mail.     By  our  own  yes 
we  have  often  written  to  Rio  and  received  a  reply  within  thirty-three  days-sixtee 
days  on  voyage  each  way  and  one  day  to  answer  the  mail  received     We  also  have 
parcels  post   with  Uruguay  and  promised  with   Brazil  and   Argentine, 
service  is   excellent,  and  owing  to  the  small  difference  in  time  one  or  even  two 
exchanges  of  message  can  be  accomplished  during  the  same  day. 
route  to  Argentine  is  via  Panama  and  Valparaiso-saving  some  2000  miles  in  t 

57 


In  conclusion  allow  me  to  say  a  word  for  myself  and  for  all  those  now 
engaged  in  the  business  of  transportation  to  and  from  South  American  ports.  Many 
of  us  have  watched  the  trades  grow  from  nothing  to  where  today  they  are  reckoned 
in  the  hundred  of  thousands  of  tons  of  merchandise  and  hundred  millions  of  dollars 
in  value.  We  have  increased  our  facilities  apace  with  the  trades ;  in  many  cases  we 
have  anticipated  the  requirements  that  would  be  made  on  us.  In  all  cases  we  have 
given  willing  assistances  to  new  developments,  often  bearing  a  share  of  the  initial 
loss. 

Gentlemen,  today  we  are  as  keen  as  ever  for  new  and  increased  business  and 
the  transportation  interests  stand  at  the  line  of  sea — ready  to  welcome  and  facilitate 
the  export  and  import  trades  of  this  country. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  That  concludes  our  session  this  morning. 

Thereupon  at  12.35  P.  M.  the  Convention  took  a  recess  until  2.00  o'clock  this 
afternoon. 


TUESDAY,  FEBRUARY,  14— AFTERNOON  SESSION. 

Director  General  Barrett  called  the  meeting  to  order  at  2.15  o'clock  P.  M. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Mr.  Robinson,  who  is  going  to  give  us  a  little 
paper  on  Cuba,  has  not  yet  arrived— Mr.  Robinson  is  special  correspondent  for  the 

New  York  Sun,  and  very  familiar  with  the  people  and  conditions  there and  in  the 

meantime  we  will  put  in  our  time  with  a  few  informal  questions  and  answers. 

MR.  RIZER  of  New  York  city:  What  is  the  origin  and  meaning  of  the  word 
"Pan?" 

MR.  BARRETT:  The  Greek  word  "Pan"  means  "all."  Pan  America  means  all 
America.  We  are  a  little  sorry  that  is  does  not  comprise  Canada.  We  have  the 
coat  of  arms  of  Canada  up  here  in  our  patio,  and  the  name  Champlain  and  other 
things  to  suggest  it.  I  think  you  will  see  in  a  short  time  that  Canada  will  be  par- 
ticipating in  the  regular  work  of  this  institution,  maybe  not  as  a  government,  but 
as  interested  greatly  in  the  Pan  American  trade.  Some  other  question? 

MR.  REGINALD  GORHAM,  Electro  Dental  Mfg.  Co.  of  Philadelphia:  I  should 
like  to  know  if  there  has  been  any  change  made  in  the  laws  affecting  registration  of 
trade  marks  in  Argentina  since  the  last  Pan  American  Conference? 

MR.  BARRETT:  The  last  Pan  American  Congress  made  recommendations  for 
a  treaty  or  agreement  which  is  now  under  consideration  by  the  Congress.  Mr. 
Moore,  Commissioner  of  Patents,  will  speak  on  that  matter  presently. 

MR.  GUMPERT  :  On  samples  carried  to  South  America;  is  there  any  duty  to  be 
paid  on  them? 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  Is  there  any  one  here  who  can  answer  that  ques- 
tion regarding  the  duty  on  samples? 

MR.  RAPOSO:  According  to  the  countries.  Mexico  admits  them.  In  Brazil 
you  have  to  pay  duties,  but  you  get  concessions,  for  instance,  if  the  amount  is  less 
than  fifty  dollars. 

MR.  GUMPERT:  As  to  samples  for  demonstrations,  which  are  used  up  right 
then  and  there. 

MR.  RAPOSO  :  It  makes  no  difference  what  you  are  using  them  for,  only  so 
that  it  is  on  samples  when  you  export  them. 

MR.  GUMPERT:  For  instance,  goods  going  over  for  demonstration  in  a  food 
line,  but  are  used  up,  you  would  have  to  pay  duties  on  them  unless  you  re-export 
them. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Is  there  any  further  information  on  that  point? 
Has  any  one  an  answer  to  that  question? 

MR.  F.  C.  ENRIGHT,  of  the  Association  of  Commerce,  Chicago :  In  the  Argen- 
tine Republic  samples  which  cannot  be  sold ;  for  instance,  take  any  one  having  shoes 
as  samples,  articles  like  that  are  admitted  free  of  duty.  If  you  take  a  machine  into 
the  country  for  the  purpose  of  demonstration  you  will  have  to  pay  duty  on  that.  It 
is  the  same  in  Brazil.  If  you  go  before  the  head  of  the  custom  house  and  make 
proper  demonstration,  showing  you  have  not  sold  the  articles,  you  may  be  able  to 
get  a  rebate,  but  I  doubt  it ;  but  any  samples  that  cannot  be  sold,  like  dry  goods,  are 
admitted  free  of  duty. 

While  on  that  subject,  there  is  one  thing  I  might  mention.  In  the  case  of  the 
Argentine  Republic,  commercial  travelers  have  to  pay  a  tax— a  national  tax— of 
$500  paper. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  It  would  be  how  much  gold  ? 

MR.  ENRIGHT:  Five  hundred  dollars  paper  would  be  two  hundred  and  thirty- 
two  dollars  gold.     Every  commercial  traveler  selling  goods  in  Argentina  has  to 
pay  that  national   tax.     Some  of  the  provinces  have  also  a  tax.    A  commerci; 
traveler   going  to  the  province  of  Santa  Fe  has  to  pay  a  provincial  tax  of  two 
hundred  dollars  paper,  which  is  approximately  eighty-eight  dollars  gold,     in 
a  thing  that  has  to  be  taken  care  of  as  soon  as  you  get  into  the  country.     I  he  com 
mercial  traveler  is  liable  to  be  held  up  and  asked  for  his  license  papers   and  it  ti 
has  not  got  them  might  get  into  considerable  trouble  and  thrown  into  jail  an< 
double  the  amount  of  tax. 

MR.   LINDEMAY:   I   would  like  to  ask  Mr.   Enright  whether  the   sam 
applies  to  other  countries.  . 

MR.  ENRIGHT:  I  am  not  familiar  with  the  conditions  outside  of  Argen 
that  particular  respect.  .     -r,      -, 

MR.  J.  E.  BARBOSA,  New  York  city:  There  are,  I  suppose,  six  State; 

59 


(PE.STINA.TION 
WOT  SPECIFIED) 


where  commercial  travelers  have  to  pay  about  thirty-five  to  fifty  dollars  American 
gold,  or  about  two  hundred  dollars  Brazilian  paper. 

MR.  FORBES.  LINDSAY,  Philadelphia,  Pa. :  I  was  going  to  remark  that  we  have 
information  in  regard  to  Central  America,  as  to  those  points,  in  the  Bulletins  of  the 
Pan  American  Union. 

MR.  A.  H.  KELEHER,  Holophane  Glass  Co.  of  New  York:  There  is  a  publica- 
tion by  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor  which  gives  the  facts  on  salesmen 
in  the  Argentine,  and  I  also  found  a  book  published  by  Mr.  Hale,  giving  a  very  good 
resume  of  the  requirements  by  different  countries  for  traveling  salesmen. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  Dr.  Hale  is  of  our  staff. 

MR.  KELEHER:  I  have  found,  as  a  rule,  you  do  not  have  to  pay  the  tax.  In 
the  Argentine  Republic  the  commercial  traveler  tax  amounted  to  as  much  as  five  hun- 
dred dollars  in  pesos  of  that  country,  and  if  we  had  to  pay  that  tax  we  simply  could 
not  do  business  there.  Companies  go  down  there  and  take  a  chance.  Nobody  wants 
to  pay  so  much  money  and  afterwards  have  it  develop  that  the  business  is  not 
enough  to  justify  that  tax ;  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  we  do  not  have  to  pay  tax  or 
duties  in  very  many  countries  on  samples. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  You  mean  to  say  that  the  Argentine  law  does 
not  exactly  exact  that,  unless  you  do  a  certain  amount  of  business  ? 

MR.  KELEHER:  It  is  a  dead  letter.  They  tell  me  in  Argentina  you  take  a  long 
chance  and  are  always  in  fear  of  police,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  I  have  been  down 
there  three  times  and  I  never  had  to  pay  a  tax,  except  in  Panama,  where  I  paid 
ten  dollars. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  are  getting  practical  information. 

MR.  ENRIGHT  :  I  would  say  I  had  a  man  put  in  jail  in  the  province  of  Santa 
Fe  for  not  having  a  tax  certificate  with  him. 

MR.  H.  F.  TEMPLE,  of  Chattanooga  Mfrs.  Asso. :  I  want  to  ask  two  questions. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  One  at  a  time. 

MR.  TEMPLE:  I  want  to  know  whether  the  customs  duties  in  South  America 
are  principally  specific  or  ad  valorem. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  want  to  say  in  that  connection  that  we  are 
developing  the  tariff  section  of  the  bureau  of  information  of  this  office,  so  that  we 
can  give  specific  information  in  regard  to  any  country  almost  immediately  upon  any 
question  being  asked. 

MR.  W.  C.  WELLS  of  Pan  American  Union  staff:  Specific  in  effect.  Where 
it  is  ad  valorem  there  is  a  certain  fixed  basis  of  assessment,  which  in  reality  makes 
it  specific. 

MR.  TEMPLE:  The  other  question  is  whether  the  matter  of  weights  and  meas- 
urements figure  in  the  amount  of  duties  that  are  charged? 

MR.  WELLS  :  I  do  not  know  whether  I  clearly  understand  the  question. 

MR.  TEMPLE:  It  was  this.  In  packing  goods  for  shipment  to  foreign  coun- 
tries, of  course,  we  have  to  put  on  a  good  deal  of  boxing,  but  what  I  wanted  to 
know  was  whether  we  have  to  report  the  weights  and  measurements.  I  wanted  to 
know  whether  the  duty  applied  on  the  package  as  well  as  on  the  article  enclosed 
in  the  package. 

MR.  WELLS:  As  a  general  rule,  it  applies  on  the  package,  where  there  is  a 
double  packing,  but  it  does  not  apply  to  the  outside ;  but  it  usually  does  apply  to  the 
interior  of  the  package.  . 

MR.  MANNING:  I  just  want  to  say  this  about  the  way  duties  are  applied  in 
Venezuela  and  Colombia,  where  I  have  had  experience.    In  Venezuela  the  duty  is 
on  the  weight  of  everything  that  reaches  the  custom  house.    I  say  that  that  way 
because  that  means  if  there  is  anything  tied  on  to  the  box,  by  accident  even,  ana- 
goes  in  there  onto  the  scales,  you  will  pay  duty  on  it.    In  reply  to  one  question  tha 
was  brought  up  this  morning  as  to  the  matter  of  packing,  whether  any  complain! 
were  made  on  packing  from  the  United  States  in  those  countries,  I  said  packing  was 
very  much  better  than  it  ever  had  been  before;  our  shippers  are  paying  very  much 
more  attention  to  it.    But  there  is  one  thing  which  should  be  mentioned, 
articles  are  packed  together  in  heavy  cases,  and  a  great  quantity  of  extra  space  is 
filled  with  excelsior  or  old  broken-up  cardboard  boxes,  or  paper    on  which 
customer  has  to  pay  a  duty.    Those  things  are  the  things  which  interfere  with  the 
cheap  arrival  of  the  merchandise  at  the  hands  of  your  customer  in  South  America 
Your  packing  should  be  ample,  but  should  not  be  any  more  than  ample.    It  s  ould 
be  just  so  that  it  can  possibly  carry  the  goods  through,  so  that  a  man  will  have  the 
minimum  of  tariff  charge. 

61 


As  to  measurements,  I  saw  one  thing  which  was  an  excellent  trick.  There 
were  a  lot  of  light  boxes  and  cases — they  were  simply  crates,  with  two  light  strips 
three-eighths  of  an  inch  thick  and  two  inches  wide  all  around  on  the  corners  of  the 
package,  and  then  one  covering  of  light  burlap  inside  that,  and  I  called  to  my  vice- 
consul,  who  had  been  there  a  good  many  years,  and  said,  "What  is  this?  How  do 
they  get  that  over  here  from  Hamburg  in  that  kind  of  package  in  such  good  shape, 
just  as  though  it  came  right  out  of  the  store?"  He  replied,  "A  dozen  of  these  small 
crates  are  packed  in  one  large  case  and  placed  in  the  ship.  They  are  taken  on 
board  and  manifested  as  twelve  packages.  When  a  ship  gets  to  the  pier  the  men 
down  in  the  hold  tear  up  the  big  case  and  they  have  the  lumber  for  their  pains ; 
and  there  is  where  the  German  saves  money  to  his  customer,  where  he  has  to  send 
his  goods  into  a  country  working  under  a  specific  duty. 

MR.  FORBES  LINDSAY  :  The  Stetson  people  ship  their  hats  in  bags  at  the  risk 
of  the  breakage  at  the  customer's  risk,  who  prefer  them  that  way. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  will  have  to  adjourn  this  impromptu  discus- 
sion. I  am  now  going  to  call  on  Mr.  A.  G.  Robinson,  who  has  made  a  very  careful 
study  of  Cuba,  to  give  us  a  brief  talk  in  regard  to  that  country. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  A.  G.  ROBINSON,  EDITORIAL 
STAFF,  NEW  YORK  SUN 
OUR  COMMERCE  WITH  CUBA 

Mr.  ROBINSON  said: 

Before  considering  the  future  trade  of  the  island  of  Cuba  and  our  place  in 
that  trade  I  shall  review  as  briefly  as  possible  the  story  of  the  recent  past.  I  have 
been  unable  to  find  any  reliable  record  of  the  commerce  of  the  island  for  the  years 
immediately  preceding  the  revolution  of  1895,  out  of  which,  with  American  assistance 
in  1898,  came  Cuba's  independence.  The  years  of  revolution  were  a  time  of  indus- 
trial and  social  distress  and  commercial  stagnation.  From  an  import  trade  of  prob- 
ably $50,000.000  or  $60,000,000  a  year,  the  foreign  purchases  of  the  island  dropped  to 
about  one-third  that  sum.  With  political  stability  fairly  assured  by  the  American 
occupation  on  January  i,  1899,  there  came  speedy  recovery,  and  the  imports  of  the 
six  years,  1899  to  1904,  both  inclusive,  show  an  average  yearly  value  of  $70,000.000. 
Then  came  a  further  increase.  The  figures  for  the  year  1910  are  not  yet  available, 
but  the  import  trade  for  the  five  years,  1905  to  1909,  both  inclusive,  shows  an  average 
yearly  value  of  about  $93,000,000. 

We  may  now  consider  the  share  of  the  United  States  in  this  notable  increase 
in  Cuba's  imports.  In  September,  1891,  effect  was  given  to  a  provisional  agreement 
with  Spain  under  which  certain  specified  products  of  this  country  entered  Cuba  at 
materially  reduced  tariff  rates.  Cuban  imports  from  the  United  States  for  the  ten 
years  immediately  preceding  the  operation  of  that  agreement  show  an  average 
yearly  value  of  about  $11,000,000.  Under  the  influence  of  the  agreement  the  pur- 
chases from  this  country  increased  to  an  average  of  $21,000,000  for  the  next  three 
years.  The  so-called  Wilson  tariff  act  brought  the  agreement  to  an  end  in  1894, 
and  the  armed  disturbance  that  began  in  1895  reduced  the  sales  of  this  country  to 
an  average  of  less  than  $10,000,000  for  the  next  four  years.  With  the  trade  recovery 
that  attended  the  American  occupation,  American  sales  increased  to  an  average  of 
nearly  $24,000,000  for  the  period  1899  to  1903,  inclusive. 

In  December,  1903,  effect  was  given  to  a  reciprocity  treatv,  known  as  the 
Bliss-Zaldo  treaty,  that  is  still  in  operation.  Due  in  part  to  the  advantages  secured 
by  this  agreement,  in  part  to  a  more  energetic  and  intelligent  selling  effort  at  our 
end,  and  in  part  to  increased  general  prosperity  and  a  greater  purchasing  power  at 
the  Cuban  end,  the  sales  of  the  United  States  show  a  notable  expansion  in  recent 
years.  Using  the  export  figures  for  calendar  years  as  reported  by  the  Bureau  of 
Statistics,  our  exports  to  Cuba  have  increased  from  $23,500,000  in  1903,  the  year 
preceding  the  operation  of  the  treaty,  to  nearly  $58,000,000  in  1910.  In  all  proba- 
bility the  imports  from  this  country  last  year  represented  considerably  more  than 
half  of  Cuba's  total  foreign  purchases.  Yet  even  that  fair  percentage  may  be  some- 
what increased.  Those  who  think  that  the  Cubans,  from  gratitude  to  the  people  of 
this  country  or  from  any  other  than  strictly  business  motives,  should  come  to  us  for 
their  requirements,  think  most  unreasonably.  Practically  all  of  Cuba's  importers 
and  merchants  are  Spaniards.  The  Cuban  is  a  man  of  the  soil,  and  not  a  tradesman. 

62 


He  wants  a  plantation  if  he  is  rich,  and  a  farm  of  a  few  acres  if  he  is  poor  Man 
adopt  professions  the  law,  medicine,  engineering  or  politics,  but  only  a  compara 
tively  few  go  into  business.  The  Spanish  merchant  buys,  just  as  the  American  ™r 
chant  does,  where  he  can  buy  what  he  wants  on  the  best  terms.  All  talk  of  r iha« 
obligations  to  buy  from  us  because  of  what  we  have  done  for  our  island  neighbors 
is  utter  nonsense  and  should  be  suppressed. 

There  is  much  in  the  list  of  Cuban  requirement  that  the  United  States  cannot 
properly  supply.  Naturally,  the  wines  of  Spain,  to  which  the  people  are  accustomed 
are  preferred  to  the  wines  of  this  country.  They  want  the  olive  oil  of  Spain  and 
their  taste  in  fans,  in  laces  and  in  various  textile  fabrics  is  Spanish  rather 'than 
American.  They  still  import  Spanish  made  shoes  in  considerable  quantities  because 
many  are  accustomed  to  the  shape  of  Spanish  footwear  and  prefer  the  Spanish  oat 
tern,  but  the  American  product  is  making  heavy  inroads  and,  aside  from  the  Spanish 
goods  and  a  cheap  grade  of  shoes  made  in  the  island,  the  American  article  meets  no 
competition.  Cuba's  purchases  of  American  footwear  have  increased  from  about 
$600,000,  in  1902,  to  $3,000,000,  in  1910.  The  Cubans  import  from  four  to  five  mil- 
lions of  dollars'  worth  of  rice  every  year.  They  are  now  buying  about  $4000000 
worth  of  American  flour,  but  rice  is  a  standard  dish  in.  the  Cuban  household  They 
buy,  largely  through  England  and  Germany,  the  product  of  Southeastern  Asia  at  an 
import  price  of  about  2  cents  a  pound.  The  wholesale  price  of  the  American  product 
is  about  4  cents  in  New  Orleans  and  somewhat  more  than  that  in  Charleston  and 
in  New  York.  We  cannot  expect  to  supply  the  Cuban  market  on  that  basis.  We 
supply  a  fair  portion  of  the  demand  for  iron  and  steel  products,  but  there  are  lines 
on  which  British  and  Scotch  makers  underbid  us.  In  one  branch  of  trade  we  are 
notably  and  inexcusably  behind  our  competitors.  I  refer  to  cotton  goods.  Cuba's 
purchases  of  such  goods  amount  to  eight  or  ten  million  dollars  a  year,  and  we  secure 
only  about  10  per  cent,  of  the  trade  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  Bliss-Zaldo  treaty 
was  so  devised  as  to  give  special  advantages  to  American  cotton. 

There  are  many  lines  in  which  our  sales  can  be  no  further  increased  except 
through  the  increase  of  Cuba's  purchasing  power,  and  there  are  some  lines  in  which 
increase  might  be  and  should  be  effected.  Such  limitation  as  there  is  in  our  export 
trade  to  Cuba  cannot  be  excused  or  explained  on  the  ground  of  lack  of  banking 
facilities,  ignorance  of  credits  or  lack  of  transportation  service.  There  are  in  Cuba 
reliable  American  and  Spanish  banks  and  branches  of  American  commercial  agencies. 
In  no  city  in  the  United  States  are  commercial  credits  safer  than  they  are  in  the 
cities  of  Cuba.  Commercial  failures  are  a  rare  experience  in  the  island.  The  banks 
have  central  offices  in  Havana  and  branches  in  all  of  the  important  cities.  Their 
business  is  done  as  banking  business  is  done  in  this  country.  In  the  matter  of 
transportation  facilities,  mail  and  passenger  service,  there  are  frequent  sailings  from 
both  northern  and  southern  ports,  and  there  are  trains  six  days  in  the  week  to  Key 
West,  where  steamer  connection  is  made  to  Havana,  90  miles  across  the  straits. 

Regarding  our  imports  from  Cuba  there  is  little  to  be  said.  We  take  about 
85  per  cent,  of  the  export  products  of  the  island.  In  those  purchases  there  is  no 
sentimental  consideration  for  the  Cuban  people.  We  buy  their  sugar  and  tobacco, 
their  iron  ore  and  copper  ore,  their  fruits  and  their  hardwoods  solely  because  of  our 
need  of  those  commodities  and  because  it  is  more  profitable  to  us  to  buy  them  in 
Cuba  than  it  is  to  buy  them  elsewhere.  In  1910  we  bought  more  than  $100,000,000 
worth  of  Cuban  sugar  and  about  $16,000,000  worth  of  Cuban  leaf  tobacco  and 
cigars.  The  heavy  balance  of  trade  in  Cuba's  favor  imposes  no  obligation  on  the 
Cubans  to  buy  from  us  any  more  than  the  heavy  balance  in  our  favor  in  our  trade 
with  Great  Britain,  or  the  heavy  balance  in  our  favor  in  our  trade  with  Canada 
puts  us  under  obligation  to  give  those  countries  a  preference  in  the  placing  of  our 
orders. 

The  Cuban  market  is  open  to  us.  In  the  entrance  to  that  market  we  hold  a 
special  advantage  over  competitors  through  the  Bliss-Zaldo  treaty  of  1903.  If  our 
sales  in  that  market  are  less  than  they  might  be  by  $15,000,000  or  $20,000,000  a  year, 
the  fault  is  entirely  our  own.  It  is  the  fault  that  limits  our  sales  in  all  foreign 
markets,  the  limitation  of  intelligent  selling  effort.  We  hunt  trade  in  our  own 
country,  we  hustle  for  it,  we  advertise  and  send  alert  salesmen  in  search  of  business, 
but  in  the  matter  of  foreign  trade  our  tendency  is  to  sit  in  our  offices  and  let  the 
business  seek  us.  We  supply  Canada  and  Mexico  with  about  60  per  cent,  of  their 
foreign  requirements,  and  our  share  of  Cuba's  import  trade  last  year  was  probably 
not  far  from  60  per  cent,  of  the  total.  Our  sales  to  those  countries  cannot  be 
doubled,  but  it  can  be  somewhat  increased.  Our  sales  to  other  countries  of  Latin 

63 


America  can  be  doubled  and  in  some  cases  trebled.  How  far  our  imports  might  be 
increased  it  is  difficult  to  say.  Most  of  the  products  of  Latin  America  are  specialties 
of  the  tropics  and  the  sub-tropics,  such  as  sugar  and  tobacco,  coffee  and  cocoa, 
spices  and  dye  woods,  fruits  and  fibers,  rubber  and  other  products  of  plantation  and 
forest.  We  buy  them  according  to  our  needs,  and  those  needs  are  not  susceptible 
of  indefinite  expansion.  For  our  needs  also  we  buy  Chili's  nitrate  of  soda  and 
Mexico's  copper,  as  we  buy  hides  and  skins  and  wool  from  a  number  of  our  Latin 
American  neighbors.  As  between  Latin  America  and  the  United  States  the  trade 
situation  is  in  favor  of  the  Latin  American  nations.  The  trade  balance  of  last  year 
was  in  their  favor  to  the  amount  of  about  $150,000,000.  In  ten  years  we  have  in- 
creased our  sales  to  Latin  America  by  about  $125,000,000  a  year,  while  we  have 
increased  our  purchases  from  Latin  America  by  about  $220,000,000  a  year. 

Some  gain  can  be  made  in  our  sales  to  Cuba,  and  large  gains  can  be  made  in 
our  business  with  other  countries  of  Latin  America.  Our  business  with  Cuba  and 
with  Mexico  stands  as  a  proof  of  what  can  be  done  elsewhere.  The  key  to  trade 
expansion  throughout  Latin  America,  in  Argentina  and  Brazil  as  well  as  in  Cuba,  in 
Central  America  as  well  as  in  Mexico,  is  in  our  own  hands.  In  closing,  I  wish  to 
impress  the  fact  and  to  emphasize  the  phrase — the  key  to  the  increase  of  our  sales 
to  our  neighbors  is  intelligent  and  systematic  selling  effort. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  Following  that  excellent  talk,  let  us  have  about 
eight  or  ten  minutes  of  questions  and  answers.  I  know  there  are  a  good  many  men 
among  our  experts  who  are  familiar  with  Cuba,  and  we  will  get  the  answer  wherever 
we  can.  Are  there  any  questions  about  Cuba? 

MR.  GUMPERT:  Do  the  traveling  men  in  Cuba  have  to  pay  license? 

CAPTAIN  GRANVILLE  R.  FORTESCUE  of  the  Pan  American  Union  staff:  No. 
But  if  he  takes  samples  he  has  to  pay  duty  at  the  custom  house  on  the  samples  that 
he  is  taking  in.  This  is  refunded  to  him  as  soon  as  he  leaves  the  country  and  he 
shows  his  samples  to  the  custom  house  officer.  A  salesman  is  simply  a  traveler;  if 
he  carries  dutiable  samples  that  are  salable  of  course  they  feel  they  have  to  keep  a 
line  on  him,  as  there  is  a  possibility  of  men  taking  in  samples  which  they  would 
dispose  of  in  the  country.  Otherwise  there  is  no  fee  at  all. 

MR.  GRIZER,  of  New  York:  I  am  informed  that  to  send  a  remittance  to  a 
traveling  man  in  Cuba  takes  a  good  many  days.  I  was  told  of  one  case  where  a 
man  was  held  for  nine  days  at  one  place  getting  a  remittance  from  his  firm  at 
Toledo,  Ohio.  What  would  be  the  best  way  of  getting  money  to  Cuba,  outside  of  a 
cable,  to  a  representative  in  Cuba?  Is  it  a  fact  that  it  could  be  possible  that  man 
could  be  held  up  a  week  or  ten  days  waiting  for  a  remittance  ? 

CAPTAIN  FORTESCUE:  In  answer  to  that  question  I  want  to  call  the  delegate's 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  Cuban  postal  service  was  organized  by  a  gentleman 
from  the  United  States,  aided  by  our  postal  officials  of  the  United  States;  and  the 
Cuban  Government  has  continued  that  same  organization,  and  if  it  has  happened 
that  any  one  has  been  held  up  on  a  postal  order  for  nine  days,  there  seems  to  be 
something  extraordinary  about  it.  It  is  not  the  usual  thing,  because  you  could  put 
through  a  postal  order  with  the  same  facility  that  you  do  in  this  country  in  Cuba, 
counting,  of  course,  for  the  time  that  it  would  take  to  go  through  the  mails  and 
arrive  at  the  point  in  Cuba  where  your  representative  is. 

MR.  GRIZER:  How  many  days  should  it  take  to  get  a  remittance  to  Havana 
from  Cleveland,  Toledo  or  Chicago  ? 

CAPTAIN  FORTESCUE  :  It  should  not  take  more  than  four  days,  in  any  event, 
from  Toledo.  You  see  the  mails  are  carried,  to  a  great  extent,  down  the  Plant 
System,  and  then  from  the  Keys  over  to  Havana ;  and,  of  course,  it  should  be  taken 
in  three  days  under  favorable  circumstances,  but  not  more  than  four  days. 

MR.  GRIZER:     Thank  you. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  would  like  Mr.  Robinson  to  answer  the  ques- 
tion in  regard  to  mail  conditions  a  little  further.  Captain  Fortescue  says  they  are 
good,  but  there  may  be  occasional  causes  for  delay. 

MR.  ROBINSON  :  They  are  good,  but  a  few  days  ago  Cuba  was  having  one 
of  its  frequent  fights  about  the  mail  service.  The  mail  is  the  hands  of  really  one 
steamship  company,  and  they  do  seem  to  rub  it  in  once  in  awhile  and  cut  out  a  boat 
where  they  can.  We  are  supposed  to  have  mail  six  days  in  a  week,  but  sometimes 
only  three'  times  a  week ;  and  then  again  a  storm  may  occur  that  delays  the  mail ; 
but  on  the  whole  the  mail  service  is  .frequent  and  regular. 

STATEMENT  :  As  the  exponent  of  producing  goods  of  the  highest  quality  against 
any  competition  in  the  world,  I  want  to  say  that  personally  I  went  down  to  Cuba 

64 


about  ten  years  ago  and  secured  orders  from  three  customers  that  have  regularly 
sent  me  their  orders  ever  since  and  paid  for  them.  What  I  want  to  impress  upon 
this  Convention  is  this  fact,  that  if  you  want  business,  and  if  you  want  primarily  that 
which  brings  you  business  and  money  and  which  is  worth  anything,  it  is  worth  a  per- 
sonal visit  along  the  line  of  my  experience. 

MR.  PAUL  R.  MAHONY,  Remington  Typewriter  Co.  of  New  York :  I  should  like 
to  ask  if  there  has  been  any  improvement  in  the  legal  situation  that  existed  up  to  at 
least  two  or  three  years  ago,  with  reference  to  the  suspension  of  payments  under 
the  commercial  code  of  Cuba.  Under  the  commercial  code  of  Cuba,  which  was 
generally  considered  a  magnificent  legal  document  or  compilation  of  commercial 
laws,  the  merchant  was  granted  special  privileges  of  going  into  so-called  suspension 
of  payments,  where  he  foresaw  the  condition  that  his  resources  or  his  current  assets 
were  not  going  to  be  sufficient  to  cover  his  current  liabilities,  he  could  go  to  the 
court  and  declare  himself  in  suspension  of  payment,  and  it  was  possible  for  him  to 
string  that  out  over  an  indefinite  period  and  secure  advantages  which,  in  my  experi- 
ence, were  decidedly  unfair. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  This  gentleman  refers  to  the  Code  of  Cuba, 
and  says  that  it  provided  for  a  suspension  of  payments,  enabling  men  in  a  great  many 
cases  to  go  out  of  business.  He  wants  to  know  whether  that  still  exists,  and  I 
will  be  pleased  to  have  Mr.  Robinson  answer  him  if  he  will. 

MR.  ROBINSON  :  I  have  not  looked  into  that  question  of  commercial  suspen- 
sion. I  have  been  too  busy  with  other  matters. 

CAPTAIN  FORTESCUE:  I  can  say — you  speak  of  conditions  three  years  ago, 
as  I  understand  it? 

MR.  MAHONY:  I  say  I  know  it  existed  up  to  as  late  as  three  years  ago. 

CAPTAIN  FORTESCUE:  A  commission  was  appointed  which  was  to  codify  all 
the  Cuban  laws,  including  the  commercial  laws ;  this  was  during  the  American  inter- 
vention; and  this  commission  sat,  I  should  say,  continuously  for  two  years.  They 
did  a  tremendous  amount  of  work,  and  as  their  work  included  the  revision  of  the 
Spanish  code  and  the  whole  Spanish  law  of  procedure,  they  took  up  the  commercial 
code  last,  and  to  the  best  of  my  memory  I  should  say  that  they  did  not  materially 
change  the  commercial  code  or  the  commercial  procedure. 

MR.  EDER  :  There  has  been  no  change  in  regard  to  the  laws  of  the  suspension 
of  payments  within  the  last  two  or  three  years.  I  feel  certain  as  to  that,  but  there 
have  been  enactments  and  one  or  two  laws  in  regard  to  fraudulent  commercial  prac- 
tices, following  the  line  of  some  of  our  legislation  that  tends  toward  helping  matters 
commercially;  but  so  far  as  the  general  matter  of  the  suspension  of  payments,  the 
provisions  of  the  commercial  code,  I  do  not  believe  there  has  been  any  change. 

MR.  GRIZER:  We  have  considerable  trade  in  Cuba  and  they  pay  as  well  as 
they  do  anywhere.  We  are  looking  for  more  of  it. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  The  question  has  been  asked  in  regard  to  the 
civil  code  of  Cuba,  and  the  question  of  the  commercial  suspension  of  payment, 
whether  there  has  been  any  change  or  not,  or  whether  it  remains  the  same. 

MR.  GRIZER:     The  same  arrangement  as  before  prevails,  Mr.  Barrett. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  We  are  honored  by  having  here  this  afternoon 
a  very  distinguished  South  American,  Dr.  P.  Ezequiel  Rojas  of  Venezuela.  I  am 
just  going  to  ask  Dr.  Rojas  to  stand  up  for  a  minute  so  that  the  audience  may  see 
him. 

Gentlemen,  I  want  to  say  that  a  great  deal  of  the  success  of  the  Pan  American 
Union  is  due  to  the  able  Assistant  Director,  Mr.  Francisco  J.  Yanes,  who  is  also  a 
Venezuelan.  He  knows  far  more  about  Latin  America  than  I  do;  he  has  been  a 
most  kindly  and  loyal  assistant  to  myself  and  has  lessened  my  burdens  every  day 
that  I  have  been  at  the  head  of  this  institution,  without  whose  deep  sympathy  and 
co-operation  I  could  not  have  succeeded  in  my  undertaking.  Dr.  Rojas  has  asked 
Mr.  Yanes  to  read  his  address  this  afternoon.  I  have  great  pleasure  in  presenting 
Mr.  Francisco  Yanes,  Assistant  Director  of  the  Pan  American  Union,  who  will  read 
the  paper  of  the  Minister  of  Venezuela. 

MR.  YANES:     Gentlemen,  I  have  simply  been  asked  to  read  a  paper  by  the 
Venezuelan  Minister.     I  do  not  want  to  make  a  speech,  but  I  want  to  say  that  the 
Director  General,  in  stating  that  there  is  no  other  man  in  the  Bureau  posted  i 
Latin  American  affairs  better  than  I  am— I  think  he  is  stretching  it  a  little  bit,  in 

65 


view  of  the  fact  that  he  is  the  only  man  who  has  reached  the  heart  of  the  Latin 
American  Republics,  and  we  are  of  very  sensitive  natures ;  he  has  become  one  of 
us,  and  all  Latin  America  is  proud,  I  know,  to  count  him  a  Pan  American  citizen. 
The  Venezuelan  Minister  has  honored  me  with  this : 

ADDRESS  OF  THE  MINISTER  FROM  VENEZUELA, 

DOCTOR  P.  EZEQUIEL  ROJAS 

* 

DR.   ROJAS  said  : 

It  is  with  much  gratification  that  I  accept  the  honor  the  distinguished  Director 
General  of  the  Pan  American  Union  has  extended  to  me  by  inviting  me  to  make  a 
brief  address  on  my  country  before  this  Conference,  designed  for  the  purpose  of 
promoting  commerce,  but  which  will  also  serve  to  secure  a  broader  field  in  the  mind 
of  the  American  people  for  the  moral  and  political  credit  of  the  Latin  peoples  of 
our  continent,  as  well  as  for  their  fitness  for  the  life  of  freedom,  order  and  progress. 
Exchange  of  trade  would  be  impossible  without  these  conditions,  because  such 
exchange,  like  everything  else  that  involves  the  risking  of  material  values,  necessi- 
tates perforce  the  underlying  element  of  confidence.  And  this  exchange  is  not  to 
be  ventured  upon,  even  by  way  of  trial,  when  there  exist  erroneous  conceptions 
that  we  should  endeavor  to  dispel,  for  the  sake  of  practical  Americanism  in  the  same 
sense  in  which  it  has  been  invoked  in  this  very  hall  by  the  eminent  men  of  the  high- 
est and  well-deserved  position  who  at  present  give  luster  to  the  official  world  of  the 
United  States. 

The  subject  is  a  broad  one,  and  it  would  please  me  to  dwell  upon  it  at  length; 
but  I  must  be  brief,  lest  I  trespass  on  the  time  allowed  those  who  are  entitled  to  be 
heard  in  preference,  the  speakers  selected  for  their  ability  and  competency  to  enlighten 
these  discussions. 

I  would  endeavor  to  show  that  the  political  convulsions  of  Latin  America 
have  been  occasional,  and  not  inherent  in  the  people ;  and  that  they  are  similar  to 
the  convulsions  undergone  at  the  dawn  of  their  development  by  countries  which 
are  today  the  pride  of  civilization. 

I  would  prove  that  the  stability  attained  by  Chile,  and  the  progress  made  by 
the  Argentine  Republic,  Brazil  and  Mexico,  are  not  exceptions  to  the  rule,  but  a 
practical  demonstration  of  what  Latin  America  is  capable  of  accomplishing,  and 
of  what  it  will  undoubtedly  accomplish.  Elements  like  those  possessed  by  the  na- 
tions mentioned  are  also  inherent  in  all  the  other  peoples  of  the  southern  continent. 
All,  in  a  greater  or  lesser  degree,  are  already  advancing  along  the  path  of  progress, 
and  there  can  be  no  estimating  the  height  that  their  material  prosperity  and  success 
in  their  civil  development  may  reach  in  the  future,  in  a  soil  so  plentiful  in  resources 
and  under  a  sun  that  stimulates  man's  energy,  not  only  by  its  exuberant  light,  but 
also  by  the  thoughts  it  awakens  in  their  mind. 

I  would  show  that  we  possess  the  qualifications  of  honesty,  civilization  and 
nobility  of  character  necessary  to  receive  and  to  return  the  life  that  flows  in  the 
commercial  currents,  uniting  the  peoples  with  a  tie  so  powerful  that  upon  it  depends 
their  common  existence. 

Of  my  country,  I  can  say  that  political  vicissitudes  have  never  altered  the 
honest  character  of  our  market ;  and  of  the  Venezuelan  people  in  general  I  will 
state  that  they  are  clean-minded  and  generous,  just  as  the  best  of  communities  in 
the  world  might  be.  In  the  wide  pampas  and  extensive  forests,  where  official  vigi- 
lance is  for  obvious  reasons  still  inefficient,  one  can  travel  with  the  utmost  safety. 
It  happens  frequently  that,  when  a  locality  is  informed  of  the  passing  of  some 
traveler — for  instance,  a  commercial  agent  carrying  with  him  valuable  property — the 
peasant  hastens  to  leave  his  hut,  not  for  the  purpose  of  attacking  him,  but  to  accom- 
pany and  protect  him.  And  the  peasant  does  this  without  expecting  any  reward 
whatsoever.  This  is  a  simple  action  that  denotes  a  spirit  of  gentleness  and  a  noble 
regard  for  duty.  A  country  whose  people  abound  in  sentiments  such  as  these  is 
not,  indeed,  a  country  without  a  future. 

I  will  not  occupy  your  valuable  time  in  giving  you  an  account  of  Venezuela's 
wealth,  for  that  would  be  almost  an  endless  task.  Nature  has  bestowed  upon  the 
country  all  the  luxuriance  of  the  torrid  zone,  and  crowned  its  forehead,  on  the  lofty 
mountains  of  the  Andes,  with  the  products  of  the  temperate  zone.  Wheat,  rice  and 
corn,  which  in  former  times  represented  three  civilizations,  are  grown  in  the  dif- 

66 


ferent  altitudes,  as  a  fore-token  of  the  fusion  of  the  human  race,  the  greatest  of 
the  destinies  ascribed  to  America  by  physiologists. 

Cacao  and  coffee,  cotton  and  indigo,  sugar-cane,  henequen  and  rubber,  cabinet 
woods,  aromatic  and  medicinal  plants,  grow  wild  on  the  27,000  miles  of  agricultural 
lands  thus  far  known.  This  does  not  include  the  unknown  and  unexploited  lands 
in  our  virgin  forests  covering  a  zone  of  55,000  miles. 

Side  by  side  with  these  riches  is  the  wealth  of  the  pasture  zone.  It  is  beyond 
the  power  of  human  mind  to  estimate  the  number  of  millions  of  cattle,  horses  and 
sheep  that  could  graze  on  the  66,000  miles  of  our  prairies  bounded  by  the  horizon. 

This  is  not  all.  God's  liberality  was  still  greater.  The  soil  retains  in  its 
bowels  the  most  varied  and  abundant  mineral  deposits  that  could  exist.  There  are 
regions  like  the  Yuruari,  where  the  sub-soil  is  crossed  in  all  directions  by  veins  of 
gold.  Iron,  silver,  copper,  coal,  asphalt  and  magnesium  are  found  scattered  through- 
out different  portions  of  the  Republic. 

It  remains  now  to  tell  you  how  Nature  has  endowed  Venezuela  with  an  outlet 
for  these  riches,  with  facilities  to  receive  in  exchange  and  distribute  throughout  the 
interior  foreign  articles  and  products,  and  to  welcome  immigration  and  capital  for 
the  development  of  the  country. 

Suffice  it  to  remember  that  our  sea  coast  extends  over  1500  miles,  with  50 
bays  and  32  ports;  that  we  have  five  gulfs,  the  largest  of  which,  that  of  Guanta, 
measures  900  square  miles;  that  our  territory  is  traversed  by  1047  rivers;  that  the 
greatest  of  these  rivers,  the  Orinoco,  having  a  basin  covering  an  area  of  93,600  square 
miles — the  great  river  over  whose  waters  one  can  sail  into  the  heart  of  South 
America,  as  it  is  connected  with  the  Amazon  basin — is  navigable  to  a  distance  of 
1 200  miles;  and,  finally,  that,  irrespective  of  minor  rivers,  the  interior  waterways  of 
Venezuela  are  navigable  for  more  than  13,000  miles. 

We  can  shelter  in  our  territory  men  from  all  climates  of  the  globe,  whether 
in  our  cold  region,  located  at  altitudes  varying  between  7500  and  16,500  feet  above 
the  sea  level,  with  a  mean  temperature  between  35  and  65  degrees  above  zero, 
Fahrenheit;  or  in  the  temperate  zone,  from  2100  to  6000  feet  high,  having  a  mean 
temperature  of  from  65  to  77  degrees ;  or  in  the  hot  region,  where  the  altitude  is 
less  than  2100  feet,  and  the  mean  temperature  ranges  between  77  and  80  degrees, 
Fahrenheit. 

Such  is  Venezuela,  roughly  described;  such  is  the  country  which  I  have  the 
honor,  to  represent  before  the  Government  and  the  People  of  the  great  Republic  of 
the  United  States. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  now  shall  have  great  pleasure  in  introducing 
to  you  the  Minister  from  Ecuador,  a  distinguished  citizen  of  that  enterprising  coun- 
try on  the  west  coast  of  South  America,  which  will  come  into  closer  touch  with  us 
when  the  Panama  Canal  is  open. 

ADDRESS  OF  THE  MINISTER  FROM  ECUADOR 
DOCTOR  RAFAEL  M.  ARIZAGA 

Dr.  ARIZAGA  said : 

The  opening  of  the  Panama  Canal  will  be  an  event  of  the  greatest  importance, 
especially  in  so  far  as  concerns  the  progress  and  development  of  the  countries  situ 
ated  on  the  western  coast  of  South  America,  all  of  which  will  be  brought  consid- 
erably nearer  to  the  great  commercial  centers  of  the  Old  World  and  of  the  Unit 
States.     The  Republic  of  Ecuador  being  situated  to  the  south  of  Colombia,  will,  n< 
to  the  latter,  be  the  one  most  benefited  by  the  completion  of  said  interoceamc  route, 
through  which  it  will  carry  in  future  nearly  all  its  import  and  export  trade 
at  present  passes  partially  through  the  Strait  of  Magellan. 

There  are  five  ports  of  entry  on  the  western  coast  of  Ecuador,  namely  Hsrnei 
aldas,  Bahia  de  Caraquez,  Manta,  Guayaquil  and  Bolivar,  all  of  which  are  free  fror 
hurricanes,  cyclones,  fogs  and  other  dangers  to  navigation,  and,  besides,  tl 
provided  with  lighthouses  and  excellent  anchorage. 

The  port  of  Esmeraldas,  the  nearest  to  Panama   (500  geographic 

67 


at  the  mouth  of  the  river  of  the  same  name.  A  bank  which  now  prevents  the 
approach  of  vessels  of  large  draft  up  the  mouth  of  the  river  can  be  easily  removed, 
which  would  greatly  improve  the  conditions  of  said  port.  Esmeraldas  is  one  of 
the  richest  provinces  of  Ecuador.  It  contains  large  placer  mines,  rich  forests  of 
excellent  timber,  rubber  trees  and  the  palm  which  produces  vegetable  ivory.  The 
land  there  is  wonderfully  fertile  and  produces  excellent  tobacco,  cacao,  coffee,  rice, 
sugar  cane  and  all  kinds  of  tropical  fruits.  It  is  one  of  the  provinces  that  is  in 
greatest  need  of  immigration  and  colonization,  only  a  small  part  of  its  area,  which 
amounts  to  15,000  square  kilometers,  being  settled  and  cultivated.  It  is  bounded  on 
the  east  by  the  inter-Andine  province  of  Imbabura,  which  is  one  of  the  most  fertile 
of  Ecuador,  and  is  noted  for  the  diligence  and  enterprise  of  its  inhabitants.  Even 
the  Indians  are  more  active  and  well  developed  there  than  in  other  provinces.  A 
railroad,  which  could  be  easily  constructed  between  Esmeraldas  and  Imbabura, 
would  not  only  contribute  to  increase  the  trade  of  the  entire  northern  part  of  the 
inter-Andine  portion  of  Ecuador,  but  also  a  great  section  of  Southern  Colombia,  and 
would  yield  large  profits. 

The  province  of  Manabi,  to  the  south  of  Esmeraldas,  which  is  larger  and  more 
thickly  populated  than  the  former,  rivals  it  in  natural  resources  and  surpasses  it  in 
climate  and  present  development.  Its  soil  is  equally  fertile  and  yields  the  same 
tropical  products.  Its  forests  of  vegetable  ivory  are  the  richest  in  Ecuador,  and,  in 
addition,  said  province  is  also  very  suitable  for  stock  raising.  The  best  hats  made 
of  toquilla  straw,  and  which  are  improperly  called  Panama  hats,  are  manufactured 
in  Manabi.  It  has  two  excellent  ports  for  the  exportation  of  its  products,  as  well 
as  for  importation  from  foreign  countries — namely,  Bahia  de  Caraquez  and  Manta. 
The  former  has  a  great  future,  inasmuch  as  it  possesses  not  only  the  best  advan- 
tages as  a  protected  port,  but  because  of  the  fact  that  it  is  situated  in  the  richest 
section  of  the  country,  so  far  as  agriculture  is  concerned,  and  it  will  soon  be  con- 
nected with  Quito,  the  capital  of  the  Republic,  by  a  railroad  which  is  now  being 
constructed  by  a  French  company.  This  railroad  will  transport  one-third  of  the 
commerce  of  the  Republic,  will  facilitate  the  exploitation  of  an  immense  extension 
of  fertile  public  lands  of  the  high  valleys  and  mountain  slopes  of  the  western  cordil- 
lera,  which  now  are  uncultivated,  and  will  place  the  capital  of  Ecuador  within  three 
days'  journey  of  Panama. 

The  port  of  Guayaquil  is  the  most  important  of  the  Republic,  since  it  is 
situated  33  miles  from  the  gulf  of  the  same  name  and  with  water  deep  enough  for 
vessels  of  deep  draft.  The  majority  of  the  imports  and  exports  of  the  country  are 
made  through  this  port.  It  is  the  commercial  metropolis  of  the  Republic,  as  well 
as  the  warehouse  and  distributing  center  of  agricultural  Ecuadorian  products.  At 
present  it  is  connected  with  the  capital  of  the  Republic  by  a  railroad  over  300  miles 
long,  which  runs  through  the  most  beautiful  and  settled  section  of  the  country, 
namely,  the  province  of  Chimborazo,  Tunguragua  and  Leon,  ascending  in  some 
places  to  an  elevation  of  over  11,000  feet. 

Guayaquil  is  the  fountain  of  the  economic  resources  of  the  country,  as  well 
as  its  most  important  industrial  and  banking  center.  It  has  public  and  private 
electric  light  companies,  electric  and  horse  railways,  fluvial  steamship  and  fire  insur- 
ance companies  and  many  other  organizations,  sugar  plantations  and  rice  and  coffee 
hullers,  but  it  can  be  said  that  all  these  industries  and  many  others  are  in  their  first 
period  of  development  and  could  be  greatly  enlarged,  thereby  affording  many  oppor- 
tunities for  the  investment  of  capital.  The  same  is  true  with  regard  to  the  banking 
business,  the  funds  of  which  are  notoriously  insufficient  for  the  proper  development 
of  the  country,  as  shown  in  the  following  table : 

Banco  Commercial  &  Agricola $5,000,000 

Banco  del  Ecuador 3,000,000 

Banco  de  Credito  Hiptecario 1,000,000 

Banco  Territoria 400*000 

Banco  de  la  Filantropica 200,000 

There  is  no  other  bank  in  the  Republic  but  the  Bank  of  Pichincha,  established 
in  Quito  with  a  capital  of  $400,000. 

68 


The  current  rate  of  interest  is  12  per  cent,  per  annum.  Banks  of  issue  and 
discount  charge  9  per  cent  this  being  also  the  rate  of  interest  on  mortgage  paper 
which  enjoys  great  credit  throughout  the  country.  The  gold  standard  prevails  in 

Guayaquil  is  interesting  not  only  on  account  of  its  commerce  and  industries 
but  also  on  account  of  its  other  resources.  It  has  large  forests  of  hardwood  which 
have  contributed  to  the  reputation  acquired  by  its  shipbuilding  industry  and  in 
addition,  it  has  an  extensive  territory  where  cacao,  coffee,  tobacco,  rubber  cocoanut 
rice  and  sugar  cane  yield  abundant  crops.  Its  salt  mines  provide  for  the  consumption 
of  the  whole  republic,  and  its  great  deposits  of  asphalt  and  petroleum  near  the  coast 
are  commencing  to  attract  the  attention  of  foreign  capitalists. 

To  the  south  of  Guayaquil  is  Puerto  Bolivar,  situated  opposite  the  island  of 
Jambeli,  provided  with  a  deep  channel,  as  smooth  as  a  river,  through  which  vessels 
of  the  deepest  drafts  can  enter.  This  port  is  destined  to  provide  for  the  commerce 
of  four  provinces  which  have  more  than  400,000  inhabitants — namely,  El  Oro,  Loja, 
El  Azuay  and  Canar,  which  may  be  called  the  great  mining  region  of  Ecuador! 
Perhaps  in  no  country  of  America  is  the  poetical  phrase  of  Olmedo,  the  great  South 
American  lyric  poet,  more  truthful  than  here,  when  he  called  the  Andes  "huge  masses 
seated  on  foundations  of  gold."  It  may  be  said,  without  exaggeration,  that  aurif- 
erous quartz  is  found  in  the  formation  of  all  the  branches  of  the  western  cordillera, 
which  from  Cajanuma,  in  the  province  of  Loja,  descend  to  the  west,  comprising  the 
territory  of  Zaruma  and  others  of  the  privince  of  Oro,  so  called  because  of  the 
richness  of  its  gold  mines.  The  mines  of  Zaruma  were  famous  from  colonial  times 
down  to  the  present  day,  and  are  now  being  worked  in  part  by  an  American  com- 
pany which  is  encountering  such  difficulties  as  are  incidental  to  the  lack  of  a  rail- 
road, which  should  communicate  that  region  with  the  neighboring  port  of  Santa  Rosa. 

The  construction  of  a  local  railroad  has  been  commenced  in  Puerto  Bolivar, 
and  later  on  this  line  may  be  extended  to  the  provinces  of  Azuay  and  Canar.  These 
provinces  are  also  very  rich  in  iron,  silver,  placer  gold,  rock  crystals  and  coal  mines. 
There  are  immense  deposits  of  the  latter  in  the  province  of  Canar  at  a  distance  of 
only  80  miles  from  Puerto  Bolivar.  The  proper  working  of  these  mines  is  of  the 
greatest  importance  to  Ecuador. 

The  future  wealth  of  the  inter-Andine  provinces  of  this  country  depends 
mainly  on  its  mines  and  industries.  In  many  of  them,  in  addition  to  those  already 
mentioned,  there  are  rich  mines  of  copper,  asphalt,  marble,  alabaster,  sulphur,  chalk, 
kaolin,  etc.,  and  the  great  abundance  of  waterfall  for  the  production  of  mechanical 
power,  together  with  the  natural  ability  of  the  inhabitants  for  all  kinds  of  manufac- 
tures, produce  the  conviction  that  its  industry  will  reach  a  great  development.  Flax, 
hemp,  agave  and  other  textile  plants  grow  in  the  mountain  region,  and  the  low 
plateaus  of  the  cordillera  can  feed  immense  herds  ot  sheep.  The  lowlands  produce 
cotton  and  vegetable  silk  of  excellent  quality,  as  well  as  toquilla  and  mocora  straw, 
the  first  of  which  constitutes  the  raw  material  for  the  hat  industry,  to  which  the 
province  of  Manabi,  Azuay  and  Canar  owe  their  prosperity. 

There  are  all  kinds  of  climates  in  Ecuador,  and  its  soil  is  capable  of  producing 
all  the  raw  material  required  by  human  industry.  The  fertility  of  the  lands  near 
the  coast  is  such  that  the  main  object  of  the  agriculturist  or  farmer  when  he  works 
is  not  to  stimulate  production  by  means  of  cultivation  or  fertilizers,  but  rather  to 
check  the  productive  power  of  nature.  Once  the  seed  is  sown,  without  any  other 
preliminary  preparation  than  that  of  the  clearing  of  trees  and  undergrowth,  the 
whole  work  consists  in  destroying  the  luxuriant  vegetation,  allowing  only  the 
desired  plants  to  live.  Cereals  of  all  kinds  yield  great  crops  in  the  inter-Andine 
region,  and  there  are  lands  in  which  two  crops  are  gathered  every  year  without  any 
kind  of  fertilizer. 

The  lack  of  easy  and  cheap  means  of  transportation  is  the  reason  why  an 
immense  number  of  natural  and  manufactured  products  cannot  be  exported  with 
profit.  Below  will  be  found,  however,  a  pretty  fair  list  of  the  products  which  were 
recently  exported  in  one  year: 

Alligator  oil,  annatto,  raw  cotton,  garlic,  rice,  donkeys,  horns,  stuffed  fowls, 
sugar,  sulphur,  baize,  reeds,  military  leggins,  pitch,  horses,  cotton  ropes,  cocoa  coffee, 
cut  reeds,  whole  reeds,  tortoise  shells,  cars,  mangrove  bark,  powdered  eggshell,  rul 
ber,  virgin  wax,  bristle,  beer,  cigarettes,  cigars,  coke,  condurango,  goat  skins,  alliga- 
tor skins,  hides,  chocolate,  fresh  fruits,  cattle,  hammocks,  banana  flour,  ice,  bricks 
sheep  wool,  raw  timber,  corn,  gold  ore,  mules,  clay  articles,  orchilla,  gold  dust,  gol< 
in  bars,  cast  gold,  mocora  straw,  royal  palm,  raft,  wood,  pumice  stone,  silver  n  irs, 

69 


*  486, 


7AV;AMZ.RlCAKlfNlO>t 
WasK.D.C. 


heron  feathers,  common  salt,  seeds,  hats,  soles,  leaf  tobacco,  vegetable  ivorv  earth 
for  the  manufacture  of  asphalt,  vinegar,  bramble. 

The  total  value  of  the  trade  of  Ecuador  may  be  estimated  at  more  than 
$42,000,000  annually,  at  least  $3,000,000  of  which  represents  our  balance  of  trade 

In  one  of  the  recent  years  for  which  statistics  have  been  compiled  the  markets 
consuming  our  products  in  the  order  of  the  value  of  the  exports  are  as  follows  : 

France  ................................. 

United  States  ..........................................  ....................      *an¥$i 

Oprmanv  .................................        5,071,320 

ireimaiij  .........................................................  n  ^.-.,  .,•,- 

Great  Britain  ............................................  ...........  ~ 


1,016,692 
.........................................  oATAKt 

................................          <y*i,vw 

528.G22 

Other  nations  follow  with  lesser  amounts. 

The  annual  exports  may  be  estimated  at  60,000,000  kilograms. 

There  is  a  valuable  product  which  Ecuador  has  not  been  able  to  export  up 
to  the  present  time  in  any  considerable  quantity  owing  to  the  lack  of  sufficient 
means.  The  banks  of  the  rivers  of  the  coast  region  and  of  the  valleys  sheltered  by 
the  mountain  slopes  produce  the  most  varied  kinds  of  an  exquisite  quality  of  fruit, 
and  when  ships  like  those  of  the  United  Fruit  Company,  which  transact  the  fruit 
commerce  on  the  Atlantic  side,  can  be  counted  upon,  Ecuador  will  be  able  to  send 
to  the  north  and  to  the  south  the  fruits  of  her  excellent  climate  in  sufficient  quantity 
to  constitute  one  of  her  fountains  of  riches. 

The  preceding  data  and  remarks  show  how  much  Ecuador  can  hope  from  the 
facilities  which  the  opening  of  the  Panama  Canal  will  lend  to  her  commerce,  and 
what  great  opportunities  can  be  offered  to  capital  and  foreign  industry  in  obtaining 
the  most  promising  results.  Ecuador  is  an  entirely  new  country,  and  everything  has 
still  to  be  done  in  it  in  the  sense  of  material  advancement  in  the  civilization  of  the 
century.  It  needs  railways  to  connect  the  coast  provinces  with  the  interior,  wharves 
and  custom-houses  for  its  ports,  electric  power  and  lighting  plants  for  its  cities, 
maritime  and  land  transportation  companies,  potable  water  for  its  towns,  and  fac- 
tories of  every  kind  ;  in  a  word,  it  needs  the  thousand  and  one  enterprises  that 
encourage  industry  and  provide  the  necessities  of  complicated  modern  life.  And  in 
all  these  investments  foreign  capital  will  be  sure  of  obtaining  the  most  flatter- 
ing profits. 

Capitalists  and  men  of  influence  in  the  United  States  should  give  timely  con- 
sideration to  three  essential  points  in  connection  with  the  Republics  of  the  Pacific 
Coast  —  namely,  the  establishment  of  cheap  and  rapid  lines  of  maritime  transporta- 
tion. the  founding  of  banks  with  sufficient  capital  for  the  development  of  the  Pacific 
Coast  countries,  and  a  generous  and  moderate  modification  of  the  customs  tariff, 
which  in  some  cases  in  the  United  States  becomes  oppressive  to  us.  And  this  is  not 
a  mere  allegation  of  self-interest,  since  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  more  our 
commerce  is  developed  the  more  we  will  consume,  and  the  one  who  will  gain 
thereby  is  the  great  producer  —  the  laborious  and  tireless  American  people.  When 
the  Panama  Canal  is  open  to  traffic  the  anomalous  situation  of  South  American 
countries  —  even  those  situated  farthest  north  —  transacting  their  commerce  through 
the  Strait  of  Magellan  will  cease,  and  the  values  of  their  product,  which  in  a  large 
part  are  paid  for  and  consumed  in  the  United  States,  and  the  prices  of  which  are 
regulated  by  the  European  markets,  will  cease  also  to  be  so  regulated,  inasmuch 
as  this  state  of  affairs  is  due  to  difficulties  of  transportation  and  the  lack  of  banking 
facilities  between  the  United  States  and  the  nations  of  the  continent  to  the  south. 
I  cannot  conclude  without  removing  an  error  that  might  be  prejudicial  to  the 
people  of  my  country  from  the  view  of  the  foreign  capitalist  and  promoter,  and  t 
is  that  there  is  sometimes  exaggeration  concerning  the  bad  conditions  of  the  clim; 
of  the  Ecuadorean  coast.  It  is  necessary  to  say  for  the  sake  of  truth  that  our  coast 
was  never  so  deadly  as  were  the  coasts  of  Panama,  Cuba  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  a 
short  time  ago.  It  is  true  that  there  are  some  cases  of  yellow  fever  in  Guayaquil 
but  they  are  not  so  numerous  as  is  supposed,  nor  is  that  a  danger  which  should  not 
disappear  as  soon  as  the  work  of  paving  and  sewering  the  city  is  accomplished 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Ecuadorean  coast  has  climates  that  are  truly  ideal  such  a 
those  of  Manabi.  El  Oro  and  the  Canton  of  Santa  Elena.  As  to  the  'n^"™  P™' 
inces,  there  is  no  climate  in  the  world  which  can  compare  to  theirs  and  medical 
science  has  not  yet  discovered  a  surer  remedy  for  the  cure  of  consumption  than 
life-giving  air  of  the  mountains  of  Ecuador. 


Our  country  offers  to  the  foreigner  who  enters  its  territory  a  generous  hos- 
pitality, an  agreeable  and  healthful  climate  and  a  thousand  opportunities  of  pros- 
perity and  gain,  and  all  who  bring  to  it  useful  knowledge,  honorable  industry  or 
capital  intended  to  develop  the  productive  forces  of  its  rich  natural  wealth  may  rest 
assured  of  obtaining  the  most  complete  success. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Mr.  Montgomery  of  our  staff  has  recently  re- 
turned from  Ecuador  and  other  countries.  Would  some  one  like  to  ask  any  ques- 
tions which  Mr.  Montgomery  might  answer  or  possibly  the  minister  might  answer? 
v  QUESTION:  How  about  health  conditions  in  Guyaquil? 

MR.  W.  B.  MONTGOMERY  :  The  health  conditions  in  Guayaquil  are  not  as  bad  as 
it  is  generally  supposed  to  be.  There  is  some  yellow  fever  at  the  present  time,  but  the 
municipal  government  is  taking  steps  to  sanitate  the  city  of  Guyaquil,  and  it  will  not 
be  very  long  until  that  is  as  healthful  a  port  as  any  in  South  America. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  aware  also  myself  of  the  negotiations  that 
are  under  way  now,  with  regard  to  that  port.  Of  course,  it  has  a  very  direct  relation 
to  all  the  business  interests  that  will  use  the  Panama  Canal,  because  of  the  impor- 
tance of  the  port.  I  want  to  say  that  during  the  time  I  was  United  States  Minister 
to  Colombia  it  was  my  privilege  to  make  an  overland  journey  through  the  entire 
length  of  Colombia,  and  then  through  Ecuador  by  muleback,  railroad  train  and 
automobile,  and  in  going  along  the  plateau  country  of  Colombia  and  of  Ecuador  I 
found  one  of  the  most  delightful  climates  in  the  world,  wonderfully  well  adapted 
to  agriculture  and  to  the  residence  of  people  like  ourselves,  the  average  temperatures 
of  those  high  plateaus  being  about  60  or  70  degrees  Fahrenheit,  seldom  going  above 
72  or  73  and  very  rarely  below  60.  In  Bogota,  the  remarkable  capital  of  Colombia, 
where  I  spent  a  most  delightful  year,  I  never  saw  the  thermometer  in  my  office  go 
above  72,  and  I  never  saw  it  below  60,  and  yet  I  was  only  three  hundred  miles  from 
the  equator,  but  I  was  up  9000  feet  in  the  air.  In  Quito  I  spent  some  ten  days  or 
two  weeks,  and  I  could  not  imagine  a  more  delightful  climate.  I  hoped  there  might 
be  some  question  in  regard  to  Ecuador. 

MR.  GRIZER:  Does  Mr.  Montgomery  happen  to  know,  or  Mr.  Lindsay,  about 
how  many  ice  plants  there  are  in  Ecuador  at  the  present  time,  or  whether  there  are 
many  or  few? 

MR.  MONTGOMERY:  There  are  some  ice  plants  in  Ecuador,  in  Guyaquil,  the 
brewery  manufacturing  ice  and  selling  it. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  They  also  make  good  beer. 

MR.  MONTGOMERY:  Of  which  foreigners  are  very  fond.  In  Quito,  also,  a 
brewer  manufactures  ice  and  sells  it  to  the  general  public.  Those  are  the  only  two 
points  I  know  of  where  the  manufacture  of  ice  is  carried  on  in  Ecuador. 

MR.  J.  D.  MASSEY,  Eagle  and  Phenix  Mills,  Columbus,  Ga. :  I  want  to  ask 
whether  the  population  of  Ecuador  is  mostly  in  the  lowlands  or  mostly  in  the  moun- 
tainous regions  and  how  that  affects  the  weight  of  clothing  of  people ;  that  is  to  say, 
what  character  of  fabric  is  used  mostly  for  the  clothing  of  people  for  the  bulk  of  the 
population. 

MR.  MONTGOMERY:  The  principal  portion  of  the  population  is  in  the  upland 
country,  in  the  high  valleys  in  that  country.  They  require  heavier  clothing  than 
they  do  on  the  coast,  woolen  clothing  being  very  comfortable  in  Quito,  and  in  all  the 
upland  country.  The  large  population  that  exists  in  the  coast  cities  requires  very 
light  clothing,  and  of  course  woolen  goods  would  not  be  used  there  at  all ;  but  in 
the  upland  cities  goods  such  as  we  wear  here  in  the  spring  of  the  year  are  very 
comfortable. 

MR.  MAHONY,  of  New  York:  We  hear  a  great  deal  about  railroads  running 
into  virgin  countries  and  opening  up  and  developing  the  country.  I  would  like  very 
much  to  have  you  give  us  a  few  words  about  the  development  that  has  followed  the 
opening  of  a  railway  from  Guayaquil  to  Quito,  which  I  understand  has  been  running 
for  some  little  time. 

MR.  MONTGOMERY:  The  railroad  from  Guayaquil  to  Quito  was  opened  up 
several  years  ago,  and  the  people  who  formerly  traveled  from  the  coast  to  the 
capital  in  stage  coaches  and  on  horseback  now  use  the  railway,  and  they  are  using 
the  railway  more  and  more  each  year.  They  seem  fond  of  that  traveling,  and  it 
makes  the  people  in  one  section  of  the  country  better  acquainted  with  the  people 
in  the  other  sections  of  the  country,  and  it  also  enables  the  products  of  that  section 
of  the  country  to  go  to  the  different  sections  of  the  country.  The  coast  products 
come  up  into  the  highland  countries  and  the  valley  products  go  down  to  the  coast 
country.  A  person  living  in  Ecuador  in  the  capital  can  eat  pineapples  brought  up 

72 


from  the  neighborhood  of  Guayaquil  every  day  of  the  year,  and  it  is  most  delicious 
iniitj  too. 

*u-  ^R-  ,WiSE>  °f  .Trenton'  N?w  Jerf  y :  I  would  like  our  friend  to  tell  us  some- 
thing about  the  sanitary  conditions  of  Ecuador,  and  the  possible  demand  of  the 
railroads  for  sanitary  earthenware,  such  as  used  in  the  United  States  in  the  most 
up-to-date  bathrooms,  anything  pertaining  to  the  earthenware  used  by  plumbers  ' 

MR.  MONTGOMERY  :  The  sanitary  condition,  for  instance,  of  Quito  the  capital 
of  Ecuador,  is  somewhat  primitive.  Quito  is  not  a  city  that  has  sewers  but  it  has 
a  natural  drainage  and  they  are  now  using  sanitary  appliances  in  houses  and  expect 
to  sewer  the  town  and  to  use  a  great  many  goods  of  that  kind.  The  city  of  Guaya- 
quil is  also  not  in  a  very  sanitary  condition  in  that  respect,  but  when  this  concession 
or  contract  that  the  municipality  makes  with  the  company  to  sanitate  the  city  of 
Guayaquil  is  concluded  they  will  need  large  quantities  of  goods  of  that  kind. 

MR.  WISE:  In  other  words,  there  is  not  much  demand  just  now,  but  the 
possibilities  are  they  will  be  needed  in  quantities  in  the  near  future. 

MR.  MONTGOMERY  :  The  demand  now  is  purely  local,  confined  to  persons  build- 
ing houses,  and  they  put  that  in  of  their  own  account,  but  later  there  will  be  a 
Targe  demand  for  goods  of  that  kind  in  the  principal  cities  of  Ecuador. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  The  Minister  of  Nicaragua  I  was  hoping  would 
be  here,  but  when  we  went  down  to  take  that  picture  he  disappeared  somewhere  or 
other,  and  he  has  asked  Mr.  LaCalle  of  our  staff  to  read  his  paper,  which  is  a  brief 
one,  and  I  will  ask  Mr.  LaCalle  to  read  it  now  while  we  are  waiting  for  the  others. 


ADDRESS  OF  THE  MINISTER  FROM  NICARAGUA 
DR.  SALVADOR  CASTRILLO 

Commerce,  which  forms  the  strongest  ties  between  nations  while  these  have 
as  the  motive  of  their  actions  only  the  public  interest — commerce  between  Nicaragua 
and  the  other  nations,  I  believe,  will  continue  to  develop  more  and  more. 

What  we  need  is  lines  of  steamships  coming  to  our  ports  and  bringing  us 
into  contact  with  our  sister  republics  of  the  continent  and  with  European  countries ; 
railroads  which  shall  connect  our  growing  towns  and  cross  unexplored  sections  of 
the  national  territory ;  foreign  capital  and  the  enterprise  of  more  experienced  men, 
who,  while  reaping  a  legitimate  reward  of  profit  and  of  prestige  for  their  governments, 
add  to  our  common  riches  and  prosperity  and  aid  us  in  fostering  civilization,  which 
is  founded  on  justice  and  well-being. 

Our  Atlantic  ports  are  regularly  visited  by  two  lines  of  steamers,  one  from 
New  York  and  the  other  from  New  Orleans.  In  times  past,  several  other  lines 
carried  on  commerce  with  that  coast ;  and  when  the  railroad  now  under  construction 
unites  the  city  of  Rama  with  the  interior  of  the  republic,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  we 
shall  have  more  adequate  means  for  the  transportation  of  our  products  to  other 
countries,  particularly  to  the  United  States,  and  of  your  products  in  return  to  my 
country. 

On  the  Lake  of  Nicaragua  there  should  be  established  a  line  of  ferry  boats, 
or  the  railroad  should  be  continued  to  the  city  of  Rivas  and  San  Juan  del  Sur, 
around  the  lake,  so  that  we  could  cross  the  country  from  ocean  to  ocean. 

We  have  also  a  project  which  we  shall  carry  into  effect,  for  constructing  a 
railroad  to  Matagalpa,  the  region  in  the  North  of  Nicaragua.  This  road  might  go 
as  far  as  Rama  and  thus  pass  near  the  mineral  zone  of  the  Atlantic,  where  there 
is  already  so  much  foreign  capital  invested,  or  it  might  be  constructed  to  Leon,  a 
prosperous  city  near  the  Pacific ;  and  indeed,  both  these  branches  should  be  built. 

At  the  present  time  our  commerce  is  carried  on  exclusively,  excepting  the 
departments  of  the  Atlantic,  through  the  Pacific  ports  of  Connto  and  San  Juan 
del  Sur;  merchandise  is  transhipped  at  Panama,  or  goes  to  San  Francisco  c  •  Europe, 
after  going  around  Cape  Horn.  ,.  ,  ,  , 

It  is   to  be   hoped   that   soon,   with    rail   communication   established   to 
Atlantic,  these  difficulties  will  be  done  away,  and  that  with  proper  compet 
freight  rates  on  exported  and  imported  goods,  commerce  in  general,  b 
and  external,  will  be  benefited. 

Our  principal  products  are  the  following:  Coffee,. cacao,  sugar,  tobacco,  grains, 
bananas,  woods  for  construction  purposes,  cotton,  indigo,  cattle,  c  ;se,  t 

73 


rubber  and  gold.  All  of  these  are  exported  and  in  Leon  and  Managua  there  are 
now  some  industrial  establishments. 

In  general,  manufactured  products  must  come  to  us  from  Europe  and  the 
United  States.  The  Atlantic  coast  of  Nicaragua  in  particular  imports  entirely  from 
the  United  States. 

Among  our  mineral  riches  it  is  declared  that  there  is  copper,  and  it  is  also 
said  that  coal  exists  in  the  republic. 

With  our  two  lakes,  one  of  which  is  of  great  extent,  and  our  four  or  five 
rivers  navigable  by  large  ships;  with  the  improvement  and  widening,  in  conjunction 
with  our  neighbor  on  the  South,  of  the  San  Juan  River,  which  connects  the  Lake 
of  Nicaragua  with  the  Atlantic ;  with  the  advantages  which  we  offer  the  industrious 
immigrant,  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  Nicaraguan  Republic,  devoted  exclusively  to 
this  work,  will  soon  be  able  to  take  an  honored  place  in  the  commercial  relationship 
of  the  nations  and  receive  all  the  benefits  of  a  free  exchange  of  products  to  the 
mutual  advantage  of  all. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Following  the  reading  of  that  paper,  which  has 
been  very  interesting,  we  will  have  the  reading  of  one  which  the  Minister  of  Haiti 
has  kindly  prepared.  Mr.  Minister,  will  you  kindly  arise  that  we  may  see  you? 
(The  minister  arose.) 

ADDRESS  OF  THE  MINISTER  FROM  HAITI 
H.  PAULEUS  SANNON 

The  island  of  Haiti  belongs,  as  you  know,  to  the  archipelago  of  the  Antilles. 
Placed  at  the  entrance  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  it  is  situated  exactly  between  the  I7th 
and  2ist  degrees  of  northern  latitude  and  the  7ist  and  77th  degrees  of  western 
longitude  from  the  meridian  of  Paris.  In  respect  to  size,  it  comes  immediately 
after  Cuba;  but  for  the  fertility  and  variety  of  the  products  of  its  soil,  it  is  unsur- 
passed by  any  other  island  of  the  Antilles. 

In  his  book,  "Haiti,  or  the  Black  Republic,"  which  is  uniformly  biased, 
Spencer  St.  John  says,  however,  in  regard  to  Haiti:  "I  have  travelled  in  almost 
every  quarter  of  the  globe,  and  I  may  say  that  there  is  not  a  finer  island  than  that 
of  Santo  Domingo.  No  country  possesses  greater  capabilities  of  production;  none 
a  greater  variety  of  soil,  of  climate  and  of  products  or  a  better  geographical  position ; 
with  magnificent  scenery  of  every  description  and  hillsides  where  the  pleasantest 
of  health  resorts  might  be  established." 

Politically,  the  island  is  divided  into  two  sovereign  republics.  The  Republic 
of  Haiti,  of  which  I  am  to  have  the  honor  to  tell  you  about,  occupies  the  western 
part,  covering  an  area  of  about  24,000  square  kilometers,  with  a  population  of  two 
million  inhabitants. 

Until  1804,  when  the  country  separated  from  France  and  again  assumed  its 
Indian  name,  that  is  to  say,  its  original  name,  this  part  constituted  the  French  colony 
of  Santo  Domingo,  so  famous  in  the  history  of  the  colonization  in  the  eighteenth 
century. 

In  order  to  avoid  any  misunderstanding,  it  must  be  understood  that  all  I  will 
have  the  honor  to  state  here  refers  only  to  the  Republic  of  Haiti,  and  not  to  the 
entire  island. 

Situated  as  it  is,  on  .  the  great  maritime  route  which  leads  directly  to  the 
Panama  Canal,  few  countries  are  destined  to  derive  as  much  advantage  from  the 
enormous  world  trade  that  will  result  from  the  communication  of  the  two  oceans 
than  Haiti. 

The  commercial  relations  of  Haiti  with  the  United  States  are  very  old. 
They  are  the  result  of  the  proximity  of  the  two  countries.  At  one  time,  when  Haiti 
was  still  an  European  colony  and  when  the  relations  of  the  island  with  its  metropolis 
were  regulated  by  what  is  known  in  history  under  the  name  of  "Colonial  Pact,"  the 
island  incessantly  besought  the  mother  country  to  allow  it  to  carry  on  trade  with 
the  United  States. 

And  you  are  going  to  see  why.  Remember  how  long  it  took  a  ship  before 
the  establishment  of  steam  navigation  to  go  from  Europe  to  America,  and  vice-versa, 
and  as  the  colonial  pact  obliged  the  colony  to  export  all  its  products  to  France,  and 
on  the  other  hand  to  import  almost  exclusively  the  articles  necessary  for  its  sub- 

74 


sistence,  the  inhabitants  of  Santo  Domingo  were  often  without  food  and  they 
requested  the  privilege  of  bringing  them  from  the  nearest  country;  that  is  to  say 
the  United  States.  Ihis  was  particularly  true  during  the  time  of  the  wars  which 
devastated  Europe  towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  during  which 
England,  then  the  almost  absolute  mistress  of  the  sea,  prevented  the  French  flair 
from  visiting  Santo  Domingo.,  which  was  threatened  with  famine  and  which  was 
obliged  to  attract  by  every  means  in  its  power  the  trading  vessels  of  the  United 
States  to  its  ports.  I  could  in  proof  of  what  I  have  stated  mention  a  historical  fact 
which  is  as  interesting  as  it  is  little  known.  It  is  a  correspondence  of  Toussaint 
Louverture,  governor  of  Santo  Domingo,  and  John  Adams,  President  of  the 
United  States.  But  my  time  is  limited,  and  those  of  you  who  might  be  interested 
in  this  historical  curiosity  can  find  it  in  archives  of  the  State  Department 

It  was  in  this  manner  and  dating  from  that  period  that  commercial  relations 
were  established  between  the  two  countries,  relations  which  destined  to  develop 
more  and  more,  favored  by  the  geographical  proximity,  by  the  difference  in  the 
products  of  their  soil  and  by  the  economic  independence  which  exists  between  a' 
manufacturing  center  and  an  agricultural  country,  producer  of  raw  materials,  placed 
in  near  proximity  with  each  other. 

In  1864  a  treaty  of  comity,  commerce  and  navigation  further  consecrated 
these  economic  relations  by  the  establishment  of  permanent  diplomatic  relations 
between  the  two  republics.  Since  then  the  bulk  of  exchanges  between  Haiti  and  the 
United  States  has  constantly  increased. 

Here  are  some  of  the  latest  statistics  :  During  the  fiscal  year  1907-1908,  that 
is  to  say,  from  the  ist  of  October,  1907,  to  the  30th  of  September,  1908,  the  total 
imports  of  merchandise  from  abroad  in  the  various  ports  of  Haiti  represented  a 
value  of  $4,701,160.80  American  gold,  distributed  as  follows: 

United  States  ..............................................  .  .............................  $3,316,827.00 

France  ...................................................................................  552,460.62 

England  .................................................................................  466,836.34 

Germany  .................................................................................  134,074.58 

Various  countries  .......................................................................  230,962.16 

Total  ...............................................................................       $4,701,160.80 

To  the  value  of  the  merchandise  coming  from  the  United  States,  $806,986.50 
must  be  added  for  the  value  of  specie  shipped  from  New  York  to  Haiti. 

As  you  see,  of  $4,701,160,80,  which  represents  the  import  movement  of  Haiti, 
the  United  States  figures  for  more  than  three  millions.  And  these  three  million 
dollars  represent  our  purchases  of  food  stuffs,  pork,  cod-fish,  flour,  butter,  lard, 
petroleum,  soap,  cotton  goods,  drugs,  carriages,  agricultural  machinery,  lumber,  etc. 

I  must  state  incidentally  that  this  proportion  of  three  millions  out  of  four 
is  not  an  accident,  or  a  transitory  condition  of  the  year  1907-1908,  but  a  permanent 
condition  proved  by  our  customs  statistics.  For  example,  let  us  take  the  fiscal  year 
1908-1909,  the  imports  of  Haiti  represent  a  value  of  $5,880,678.79;  the  United  States 
figures  in  the  same  proportion,  or  $4,271,046.72;  France  follows  with  $644,315.35; 
England  with  $568,190.22;  Germany  with  $196,886.55,  and  the  other  countries  with 
$182,239.95.  It  is  necessary  to  add  for  the  United  States  $851,762.79,  value  of  specie 
shipped  from  New  York  to  Haiti. 

In  going  back  several  years,  up  to  1890,  period  of  exceptional  commercial 
prosperity  for  Haiti,  an  import  value  of  $10,060,979.27  is  noted,  in  which  the  share 
of  the  United  States  amounts  to  $6,454,600. 

As  you  can  see,  this  is  a  permanent  commercial  fact  :  three-fourths  of  the 
imports  of  Haiti  come  from  the  United  States. 

In  regard  to  our  exports  to  the  United  States,  they  are  far  from  balancing 
our  imports.  According  to  statistics  of  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor, 
the  value  in  American  money  of  Haitian  articles  imported  into  the  United  States 
during  the  fiscal  years  from  1903  to  1907  is  as  follows  : 


$1.108,729 
1,214,133 
1,101,650 
1,184,847 


These  articles  consist  principally  of  coffee,  cacao,  goat  skins,  beeswax,  honey, 
logwood,  cabinet  woods,  etc. 

75 


The  average  of  our  exports  to  the  United  States  amounts  consequently  to 
about  one  million  dollars. 

It  is  little  when  it  is  recalled  that  during  the  year  1907-1908  Haiti  exported 
63,848,333  pounds  of  coffee,  5,889,504  pounds  of  cacao,  3,389,823  pounds  of  cotton, 
291,166  pounds  of  goat  skins,  110,133,962  pounds  of  log-wood;  125,616  pounds  of 
honey,  150,636  pounds  of  beeswax,  95,567  pounds  of  maguey,  4,865  pounds  of  peanuts, 
28,673  feet  of  mahogany,  etc. 

An  effort  should  be  made  looking  to  the  development  of  our  exports  to  the 
United  States,  especially  in  respect  to  our  coffee. 

%  Coffee,  which  is  the  principal  product  and  export  of  Haiti,  is  shipped  prin- 
cipally to  Europe,  to  France,  where  it  commands  a  higher  price  than  in  the  United 
States;  the  greater  part  of  our  cacao  also  goes  to  Europe,  and  this  in  spite  of  the 
heavy  customs  duties,  while  these  two  products  figure  on  the  free  list  of  the  Amer- 
ican tariff.  The  reason  of  this  anomaly  in  regard  to  our  coffee  is  that  it  does  not 
command  a  good  price  in  the  United  States,  where  the  market  is  especially  fur- 
nished by  Brazil  and  Central  America.  Haitian  coffee  is  of  a  very  superior  quality, 
and  is  much  prized  and  sought  by  connoisseurs.  In  France,  Haitian  coffee  is 
added  to  other  brands,  to  Santos,  for  example,  to  improve  the  quality. 

When  Haitian  coffee  becomes  more  widely  known  in  the  United  States,  it 
will  undoubtedly  be  equally  appreciated  and  used,  and  the  importation,  which  at 
present  scarcely  exceeds  an  average  of  four  million  pounds,  will  in  time  reach  a 
much  greater  figure,  especially  as  there  are  no  customs  duties  levied  on  this  im- 
portant product. 

In  regard  to  our  cacao,  the  United  States,  which  is  already  an  important 
market  for  Haitian  cacao,  is  destined  to  become  a  still  greater  one,  especially  since 
an  effort  is  being  made  in  Haiti  to  constantly  use  greater  care  in  the  preparation 
of  cacao,  the  lack  of  care  in  the  preparation  of  cacao  being  one  of  the  principal 
reasons  in  the  past  for  the  preference  given  to  the  similar  products  of  our  rivals. 

To  complete  this  commercial  review,  the  following  figures,  taken  from  the 
year  book  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Port-au-Prince,  shows  the  total  maritime 
movement  of  the  ports  of  Haiti  during  the  year  1907-1908  to  have  been  57,434.24  tons, 
distributed  as  follows: 

France 7,357.13 

Germany 31,664.43 

England 2,429.60 

Holland 15,881 . 78 

Various  countries ...  101.30 


Total 57,434.24 

These  relations,  thanks  to  the  cordial  relations  which  have  never  ceased  to 
exist  between  the  two  countries,  and  the  real  need  they  have  for  each  other's  prod- 
ucts, Haiti  for  manufactured  products  and  the  United  States  for  raw  material, 
cannot  fail  to  increase  more  and  more  to  their  mutual  advantage. 

In  fact,  for  some  time  the  Americans  have  been  becoming  more  interested 
in  Haiti.  Haiti  is  ceasing  to  be  a  mythical  country  for  them.  Those  who  have 
had  occasion  to  visit  the  Queen  of  the  Antilles,  and  they  are  each  day  becoming 
more  numerous,  speak  favorably  of  the  natural  resources  of  the  country,  of  the 
hospitality  of  its  inhabitants,  of  the  beauty  of  its  situation. 

Already  a  change  is  noted  in  the  American  public  opinion  in  regard  to  Haiti ; 
the  press  also,  formerly  so  systematically  hostile,  already  speaks  of  Haiti  with 
impartiality,  and  even  with  sympathy  at  times. 

This  new  feeling  cannot  fail  to  bring  about  an  increased  movement  of  trade 
between  the  two  neighboring  republics ;  the  proof  is  found  in  the  fact  that  American 
capital  is  beginning  to  flow  towards  Haiti;  and  recently  numerous  concessions  have 
been  granted  to  American  business  men. 

The  Wharf  Company  of  Port  au  Prince  is  an  American  enterprise;  an 
American  has  just  obtained  the  most  important  railroad  concession  which  has  ever 
been  granted  by  the  Haitian  Government.  American  banks  figure  in  the  financial 
syndicate  which  will  this  year  establish  a  new  State  bank  in  the  country  and  issue 
the  new  $12,000,000  foreign  loan. 

This  is  a  first  step;  it  will  be  followed  by  many  others.  There  is  no  doubt 
but  what  the  commercial  movement  between  the  two  countries  will  constantly 
increase.  Every  effort  of  the  Haitian  Government  tends  towards  attracting  foreign 
capital  in  order  to  establish  railroads,  exploit  the  agricultural  as  well  as  the  mining 

76 


resources  of  the  country.     Consequently  there  is  very  near  to  you  a  vast  field  of 
action  open  to  American  energy  and  capital. 

tion?  DlRECT°R  GENERAL  BARRETT:   Will  someone  ask  some  direct,  important  ques- 


on  in  Haiti  ?'INI)EMAY:   **  ****  "^  rallr°ad  construction  at  th*  present  time  going 
DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Will  Mr.  Adams  answer  that  question- 
MR.  ADAMS  :   The  most  recent  construction  is  the  opening  up  of  the  interior 

0^Ha,1xrWltlla  yaur°ad  aer°,SS  the  entire  island  lt  is  beinS  surveyed.  Mr  McEton- 
ald  of  New  York  has  secured  a  concession  to  build  a  railroad  connecting  the  capital 
Port  au  Prince,  and  running  right  through  to  Cape  Haitien  on  the  north  This  will 
be  about  186  miles  in  length  and  will  open  up  a  most  fertile  country.  The  conces- 
sion has  been  granted,  the  surfacing  up  is  being  made,  the  money  found  in  New 
York,  and  they  believe  that  inside  of  two  months  they  will  have  the  rails  started 

MR.  LINDEMAY:  Is  the  concern  who  is  financing  that  road  in  Haiti  or  are 
they  New  York  concerns? 

MR.  ADAMS:  The  McDonald  concern  have  not  stated  where  they  got  the 
money,  but  they  said  the  money  has  been  found  in  the  United  States.  Surveying 
parties  are  out  and  have  surveyed  practically  the  entire  line.  Then,  with  that  rail- 
road concession,  an  important  concession  for  raising  bananas  along  the  side  of  the 
road  has  been  granted,  and  they  believe  that  they  will  be  able  to  put  bananas  into 
the  North  American  ports  at  a  much  lower  figure  than  any  other  fruit  coming  to 
those  markets. 

MR.  EASTON  of  New  York  :  Do  you  happen  to  know  if  there  will  be  any  rail- 
road shops  built  there  in  connection  with  that  railroad? 

MR.  ADAMS  :  Yes,  there  are  railroad  shops  at  present  at  Port  au  Prince  for  a 
small  railroad  running  out  in  two  directions  from  the  capital.  They  will  have  three 
railroad  shops  on  the  island. 

MR.  MARSH  of  New  York:  Is  salt  mined  in  Haiti  and  exported?  I  under- 
stand it  is  mined  in  Santo  Domingo.  Is  it  in  Haiti  ? 

MR.  ADAMS  :  They  have  some  salt  in  Haiti,  but  they  do  not  export.  They  have 
some  salt  veins,  and  they  also  have  some  salt  pans. 

MR.  EDW.  F.  KELLIER,  The  Latin  American  Development  Co.,  of  New  York: 
Can  you  give  me  some  information  in  regard  to  electrical  plants  in  Haiti  ? 

MR.  ADAMS:  There  has  been  a  concession  granted  to  Mr.  Archer  of  New 
York  for  an  electric  plant  in  Port  au  Prince,  and  that  has  been  installed;  and  also 
at  Cape  Haitien,  the  second  city  on  the  north,  and  the  poles  were  being  erected  when 
I  was  there  three  months  ago.  There  is  to  be  a  third  plant  in  Aux  Cayes,  on  the 
southern  coast.  Those  plants  are  all  in  operation  now.  United  States  machinery 
is  used  throughout,  and  the  poles  came  from  the  United  States  also.  They  used 
iron  poles. 

MR.  J.  D.  MASSEY  of  Eagle  and  Phoenix  Mills,  Columbus,  Ga.  :  I  would 
like  to  know  what  you  think  of  the  outlook  for  cotton  goods  in  Haiti,  and  what 
grade  in  particular  —  that  is,  whether  fine,  medium  or  coarse. 

MR.  ADAMS  :  I  was  quite  surprised  when  I  went  into  a  big  store  in  Port  au 
Prince  and  saw  them  selling  large  quantities  of  blue  denim;  and  as  the  man  who 
was  managing  the  store  was  a  German,  I  asked  him  where  the  goods  came  from. 
He  said  from  Lawrence,  Mass.,  and  I  know  it  is  very  popular  goods  among  the 
peasants.  I  said  to  him:  "Why  did  you  not  procure  it  in  Germany?"  He  replied: 
"I  did  send  samples  over  to  Germany  to  the  factories  there  a  half  a  dozen  times, 
and  they  cannot  meet  it  on  price  or  quality."  So  that,  the  blue  denim,  is  used  f9r 
the  best  class,  from  the  United  States.  As  you  noticed  from  the  chart  of  Haiti  in 
the  rear  of  the  hall,  we  have  gained  a  great  deal  there.  The  coffee  goes  to  Europe, 
and  it  commands  a  higher  price  there. 

MR.  MASSEY:  I  would  like  also  to  ask  whether  this  denim  is  used  also  m 
Latin  America? 

MR.  ADAMS  :    A  great  deal  is  used  in  Honduras,  in  Santo  Domingo  and  Haiti. 

QUESTION  :  What  means  of  communication  is  there  between  Haiti  and  Cuba 
and  other  points  ?  „,, 

MR.  ADAMS:    I  went  to  Haiti  and  the  Dominican  Republic  from  Cuba.     In 
are  three  lines  of  steamers,  one  going  from  Jamaica  to  Haiti   and  another,  a  French 
line,  once  a  month,  has  a  steamer  which  leaves  Santiago  de  Cuba  and  makes  the 
ports  of  Haiti  ;  and  there  is  another  line  leaving  Cuba,  the  Herrera  line,  that  makes 
Santo  Domingo  without  touching  at  Haiti,  once  a  month. 

77 


MR.  BOAGE  of  Detroit:  I  understand  that  French  is  the  language.  Is  there 
any  commercial  advertising  in  that  language? 

MR.  ADAMS  :  French  is  the  language  of  the  island,  and  all  advertisements  in 
the  papers  are  in  French,  but  in  the  stores  in  the  principal  cities  the  owners  speak 
many  languages,  and  they  have  correspondents  in  all  parts  of  the  world  in  every 
tongue. 

QUESTION  :    Have  they  water-works  and  gas  works,  and  do  they  use  meters  ? 

MR.  ADAMS  :  No,  they  have  not  used  meters  in  Haiti  or  Santo  Domingo  to  any 
great  extent,  electric  light  plants  doing  the  lighting.  They  have  not  gas  in  either 
Haiti  or  Santo  Domingo. 

MR.  MASSEY  :  Has  the  Republic  of  Haiti  been  put  in  a  sanitary  condition  like 
some  of  the  other  islands,  notably  Cuba  ? 

MR.  ADAMS  :  They  have  most  elaborate  plans  for  improving  the  sanitary  con- 
ditions in  matters  of  that  kind.  They  have  taken  up  sanitation  and  are  proceeding 
along  the  lines  which  have  been  followed  in  Cuba,  but  have  made  no  definite  progress 
such  as  has  been  accomplished  in  Cuba,  but  they  are  on  their  way  improving  their 
cities  continually,  but  the  elaborate  plans  are  yet  to  take  place.  They  are  going  to 
spend  a  good  deal  of  money  in  Haiti  in  just  that  kind  of  work.  They  realize  the 
necessity  for  it  and  are  doing  it. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:   Are  there  any  questions  in  regard  to  Nicaragua? 

QUESTION:  I  should  like  to  ask  Dr.  Hale  if  he  can  tell  us  if  there  are  any 
opportunities  at  present  in  Nicaragua  for  the  introduction  of  American  goods  in 
any  special  line. 

DR.  HALE  :  I  should  say  not  in  special  lines,  because  Nicaragua,  of  course,  is 
at  present  in  a  condition  of  great  commercial  depression,  and,  judging  from  my 
experience  there  last  winter,  at  the  moment  they  get  into  an  industrial  stride,  as 
they  will  certainly  this  coming  spring,  production  will  go  on  very  rapidly.  Then 
they  will  have  money,  and  those  who  know  the  condition  of  credits  in  Latin-Ameri- 
can countries  know  that  even  during  a  time  of  political  disturbance  the  money  is 
still  in  the  country,  and  I  think  that  now  would  be  a  very  good  time  for  a  man 
carrying  staples,  shoes  and  wearing  apparel,  cotton  goods,  the  smaller  class  of  tools, 
particularly,  ought  to  secure  good  returns.  I  cannot  say  that  any  one  particular 
line  would  be  indicated  at  present. 

MR.  ADAMS:  We  have  just  published  in  the  bulletins  a  series  of  five  articles 
written  by  a  commercial  traveler  in  Latin  America,  and  he  answers  many  questions 
that  have  been  asked  by  people  since  he  has  returned,  in  regard  to  the  articles  which 
have  been  sold  in  Central  America,  and  it  is  completed  in  this  February  number, 
which  will  be  out  tomorrow.  The  last  article  deals  with  the  field  as  it  exists,  and 
makes  many  valuable  suggestions. 

QUESTION:    Have  they  got  a  coinage  in  Nicaragua? 

DR.  HALE  :  They  have  no  coinage.  Paper  money  is  used  almost  altogether. 
Of  course,  they  have  some  old  coins  there  yet. 

MR.  WILLIAM  S.  Cox  of  J.  &  W.  Seligman  &  Co.,  New  York :  What  about  the 
rate  of  exchange? 

DR.  HALE  :  A  year  ago  the  street  rate  was  about  8  pesos  to  the  gold  dollar. 
I  noticed  that  the  exchange  of  10  days  ago  was  about  10  pesos  to  the  gold  dollar.  It 
is  going  up  slowly. 

QUESTION  :  I  would  like  to  know  if  there  is  any  particular  reason  why  busi- 
ness in  Haiti  should  be  done  through  commission  houses  instead  of  direct. 

MR.  ADAMS:  Well,  I  don't  know  just  how  to  answer  that  question.  The 
merchants  in  Haiti  in  many  cases  do  deal  direct  with  the  manufacturers  of  the 
United  States,  and  New  York  firms  have  their  agents,  who  do  charge  a  small  com- 
mission. It  is  found  by  some  best  to  hire  the  merchants  in  Haiti  to  assist  them  in 
collecting  their  goods  from  New  York.  There  is  no  reason  why  you  could  not  do 
it  yourself  if  you  can  write  in  French.  Of  course,  they  can,  most  of  them,  read 
English.  In  Port  au  Prince  many  of  those  merchants  come  to  New  York  every  season 
and  do  their  buying,  and  buy  a  great  variety  of  goods.  I  was  surprised  to  find  how 
many  goods  not  manufactured  in  the  United  States  they  use.  You  see  from  the 
chart  that  over  half  of  the  goods  come  from  the  United  States  right  now. 

MR.  GUMPERT:    Is  the  business  conducted  by  foreigners  or  by  natives? 

MR.  ADAMS  :  It  is  conducted  principally  by  Germans  and  Frenchmen.  I  pre- 
sume about  20  per  cent,  are  Haitiens  in  the  principal  cities.  Throughout  the  smaller 
cities  the  percentage  is  much  larger  of  Haitiens. 

(Thereupon  at  5  o'clock  P.  M.  the  Convention  adjourned  for  the  day.) 

'   78 


WEDNESDAY,  FEBRUARY  15-MORNING  SESSION 

The  Conference  was  called  to  order  at  9.50  o'clock  A.  M.,  by  Director 
General  Barrett. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Mr.  Butman  has  made  a  very  careful  studv  of 
the  boot  and  shoe  trade  in  South  America  and  will  be  very  glad  to  meet  anv  oersons 
who  wish  to  talk  with  him. 

Will  Mr.  Graham  Clark  please  come  up  front. 

Mr.  Clark  has  made  a  very  careful  study  of  the  textile  trade  all  over  Latin 
America,  as  has  Mr.  Butman  of  boots  and  shoes. 

Has  any  one  a  question  they  would  like  to  ask  right  now  right  off  the  bat? 

MR.  LINDEMAY  :  In  reference  to  bids  for  Government  work  in  South  America 
is  there  any  place  where  these  bids  are  advertised,  or  is  the  work  done  through  a 
bidding  method — works  of  public  construction? 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:     Is  there  any  one  who  can  answer  that  question? 

MR.  CHAS.  A.  POPE,  International  Silver  Co.,  of  Chile:  Mr.  Barrett,  I  can 
answer  that  question  and  say  that  it  varies  according  to  the  countries,  to  some  ex- 
tent, but  in  the  majority  the  same  method  is  followed. 

The  usual  method  in  Chile  is  to  advertise  in  the  public  gazette,  and  in  Buenos 
Aires  the  same  method  prevails.  As  a  general  rule,  on  all  important  contracts,  suf- 
ficient time  is  given  for  local  agents  of  Buenos  Aires  to  communicate  with  their  home 
concerns,  although  I  have  known  cases  where  there  was  not  sufficient  time  given, 
not  even  to  take  up  the  matter  intelligently  by  cable,  but  the  practice  to  submit  bids 
by  advertising  in  the  Gazette  is  the  usual  thing,  so  far  as  I  know. 

MR.  MANNING  :  The  same  rule  prevails  for  Venezuela  and  Colombia.  I 
would  like  to  say  that  men  who  are  doing  extensive  business  in  any  of  those  coun- 
tries, and  looking  especially  for  contract  work,  would  be  very  wise  indeed  if  they 
would  subscribe  to  the  official  Gazettes  of  the  various  Republics  in  South 
America.  They  would  not  only  keep  in  touch  with  all  changes  in  the  law,  but  they 
would  keep  in  touch  with  every  contract,  every  concession  and  every  movement 
that  is  made  in  that  country  leading  toward  industrial  development. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  That  is  a  very  good  suggestion  about  the 
Gazette. 

MR.  POPE  :  One  important  feature  connected  with  it,  too,  that  it  may  be  well 
to  remember  is  that  both  in  Argentina,  and  I  suppose  in  every  other  South 
American  country,  in  putting  in  bids  for  railroad  work  or  for  government  work 
they  always  exact  a  deposit  as  a  guarantee  of  good  faith,  generally  amounting  to  ten 
per  cent,  of  the  amount  of  the  bid. 

MR.  JOHN  A.  OLT,  Burroughs'  Adding  Machine  Co.,  of  Detroit:  In  reference 
to  the  discussion  of  the  preparation  of  translations  and  of  advertising  matter  in 
Spanish  and  Portuguese.  I  understand  we  have  been  discussing  advertising,  in  a 
general  way,  but  as  to  the  matter  of  producing  advertising  in  Spanish  and  Portu- 
guese, will  that  matter  be  discussed  today? 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  don't  think  we  will  get  to  that  except  that  as 
it  comes  up  in  open  discussion.  You  would  like  to  have  some  one  reply? 

MR.  OLT:  I  would  like  to  have  some  one  tell  us  how  that  is  done.  I  find 
great  difficulty  in  getting  high-priced  papers  to  do  that  kind  of  work. 

MR.  J.  E.  BARBOSA  :  I  think  the  most  important  thing  is  to  get  a  good  transla- 
tion. You  have  plenty  of  houses  in  New  York  that  can  do  very  good  translating. 
The  important  thing  is  not  to  send  catalogues  to  South  America  composed  in  un- 
grammatical  Spanish  or  Portuguese.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  have  catalogues  of  that 
kind  in  South  America.  The  translator  must  know  English  as  well  as  his  native 
language  in  order  to  translate  properly.  You  will  find  plenty  of  houses  in  New 
York  that  can  take  care  of  that  work,  and  I  should  say  with  regard  to  advertise- 
ment that  you  have  American  magazines  in  this  country  which  reach  South  America ; 
but  in  some  cases  it  is  better  to  advertise  in  the  dailies  there  if  you  do  business  in 
large  cities  such  as  Buenos  Aires,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Caracas  or  whatever  territory. 

79 


UNITED  STATES 
f  7,400,000 


Wask,  ».C. 


MR.  OLT:  I  have  particularly  in  mind  the  kinds  of  advertising  matter  that 
is  considered  the  best  Most  printing  houses  cannot  prepare  that  advertising  matter 
in  a  high  degree  of  Castilhan  Spanish. 

MR.  BARBOSA:  I  should  fancy  not.  You  must  remember  that  American 
ideas  for  advertisements  cannot  be  translated  very  well.  It  is  good  to  have  a  native 
compose  that  advertisement.  You  cannot  translate  American  phraseology  or  adver- 
tising phraseology  very  well  into  Spanish  or  very  well  into  Portuguese  The  result 
is  disastrous,  but  if  you  have  a  native  and  give  your  ideas  to  him  and  let  that  native 
compose  it  according  to  the  instructions  you  give  him,  you  will  have  very  good 
results  indeed ;  but  if  you  have  it  translated  from  English  into  Spanish  the  chances 
are  that— I  do  not  want  to  use  a  slang  expression  or  a  strong  expression— the  adver- 
tisement will  be  rendered  very  poorly. 

MR.  MANNING:  Specifically,  in  answer  to  the  question  as  to  whether  he  can 
have  it  done,  the  National  Association  of  Manufacturers  and  the  Commercial  Museum 
of  Philadelphia  maintain  bureaus  specially  equipped  for  the  translation  of  any  sort 
of  matter  that  any  member  of  their  organization  wants  to  send  abroad,  and  usually 
I  have  found  that  their  work  has  been  absolutely  satisfactory. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:   Did  you  give  the  address? 

MR.  MANNING:  The  National  Association  of  Manufacturers,  170  Broadway, 
and  the  Commercial  Museum  of  Philadelphia. 

MR.  BARBOSA  :  The  main  question  has  not  been  answered.  You  asked  this 
question,  as  I  understand  it,  whether  advertising  matter  written  in  good  Spanish 
would  be  the  proper  thing  and  well  understood  in  all  South  American  countries 
where  Spanish  is  spoken.  Is  that  what  you  asked? 

MR.  OLT  :  If  you  are  going  to  print  that  in  ten  different  countries,  you  cer- 
tainly do  not  want  to  have  ten  different  translations  on  each  one. 

MR.  BARBOSA:  If  you  write  a  circular  in  the  Spanish  language  it  will  be 
perfectly  understood;  in  fact,  it  would  be  very  incorrect  to  write  it  in  anything 
else;  the  difference  is  so  slight.  Take  Chile,  Argentine,  and  I  believe  Colombia, 
whose  people  write  and  speak  some  of  the  best  Spanish  on  the  South  American 
Continent.  In  Brazil,  of  course,  it  is  Portuguese,  a  totally  different  language;  but 
from  what  I  have  seen  in  South  America  circulars  and  advertising  matter  should 
be  in  as  perfect  Spanish  as  spoken  in  Spain. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  think  there  has  been  a  little  misunderstanding 
of  the  question.  I  can  say  explicitly  on  that  point,  from  my  experience  as  Minister 
in  several  of  those  countries,  and  from  my  experience  at  the  head  of  this  institution, 
that  any  circular  written  in  first-class  Spanish  will  be  understood  in  all  Latin  Ameri- 
can countries,  the  only  exceptions  being  Brazil,  and  there  you  must  have  Portuguese, 
and  Haiti,  where  French  is  spoken.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  send  Spanish  catalogues 
or  circulars  to  Brazil.  The  language  of  Brazil  is  Portuguese ;  of  Haiti,  French,  and 
the  language  of  the  other  eighteen  countries  of  Latin  America  is  Spanish. 

MR.  L.  A.  KIMBALL,  Simmonds  Manufacturing  Co.,  New  York:  Answering 
Mr.  Olt,  in  reference  to  translations  of  publications,  circulars,  catalogues  and  that 
kind  of  material  he  wants  to  be  circulated  in  South  America,  I  can  tell  him  that 
there  are  a  dozen  publishing  houses  in  New  York  that  have  technical  translators  for 
any  language  on  the  globe,  and  they  are  prepared  to  issue  from  start  to  finish  com- 
plete printed  matter  covering  all  the  details. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  We  have  with  us  Mr.  Osborne,  the  Chief  of  the 
Bureau  of  Trade  Relations  of  the  State  Department,  and  I  am  sure  you  are  all  very 
glad  to  have  him  here.  The  Bureau  of  Trade  Relations  of  the  State  Department 
is  doing  a  great  work  under  his  direction,  and  I  know  that  his  suggestions  will  be 
of  a  very  practical  and  valuable  kind.  I  hope  you  will  give  Mr.  Osborne  very  close 
attention,  and  he  will  be  very  glad  to  answer  questions  at  the  conclusion  of  his  ten 
minutes. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  JOHN  BALL  OSBORNE,  CHIEF  OF  BUREAU 
OF  TRADE  RELATIONS,  DEPARTMENT  OF  STATE 

Mr.  OSBORNE  said: 

I  esteem  it  a  great  privilege  to  stand  here  before  you.    I  did  not  anticipate 
occupying  this  conspicuous  position,  and  I  therefore  had  not  prepared  any  ad< 
but  it  has  occurred  to  me  to  make  some  remarks  to  you  respecting  the  <     loval,  s< 

81 


far  as  practicable,  of  the  various  impediments  which  exist  to  the  development  of 
commercial  intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  the  countries  of  Latin 
America,  and  which  have  been  suggested  to  me  in  an  experience  of  some  years  in 
the  Bureau  of  Trade  Relations  of  the  Department  of  State. 

Economists  in  building  up  a  theory  of  international  trade  attempt  to  draw  a 
distinction  between  domestic  and  international  trade.  They  define  the  former  as 
trade  taking  place  within  an  economic  trading  body  wherein  the  agents  of  produc- 
tion, that  is,  labor  and  capital,  circulate  freely,  while  the  latter  is  described  as  trade 
between  different  economic  trading  bodies,  between  which  there  is  comparative 
imm.obility  as  regards  the  productive  agents,  attributable  to  the  various  impediments 
to  commercial  intercourse,  such  as  cost  of  transportation,  arising  from  relative 
geographical  situation,  tariff  barriers,  differences  of  race,  language,  institutions,  etc. 
While  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  primary  conditions  upon  which  the  theory  of 
immobility  of  the  agents  of  production  is  predicated  still  exist  in  the  relations 
between  the  United  States  and  the  countries  of  Latin  America,  it  is  a  gratifying  fact 
that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  and  the  American  business  community 
are  working  earnestly  toward  the  removal  or  amelioration  of  all  impediments  to 
close  an  extensive  trade  and  social  relations  with  the  Latin  American  nations,  com- 
posing the  Pan  American  Union,  so  that  the  old  definition  of  international  trade  is 
becoming  less  and  less  applicable. 

There  are,  of  course,  some  impediments  to  transfer  which  cannot  be  entirely 
removed,  particularly  those  imposed  by  geographical  distance,  although  even  here 
the  difficulty  can  be  minimized  by  the  establishment  of  regular  and  speedy  shipping 
facilities  under  the  American  flag,  such  as  is  proposed  by  the  Gallinger  amendment — 
now  pending  in  Congress — to  the  Postal  Aid  law  of  March  3,  1891,  and  by  the  build- 
ing of  the  great  intercontinental  railway  system.  There  is  no  serious  difficulty  in 
respect  to  diversity  of  political  institutions,  for  the  basic  ideas  are  the  same  in  the 
organic  laws  of  all  the  constituent  members  of  the  Pan  American  Union.  Even 
the  differences  of  language  and  denominations  cease  to  be  obstacles  when  the  manu- 
facturers and  exporters  of  the  United  States  follow  the  time-honored  advice  of  our 
consular  officers  in  respect  to  these  matters. 

There  remains,  then,  to  consider  only  the  question  of  tariff  barriers  as  an 
impediment  to  transfer.  But  before  speaking  on  this  topic  I  should  like  to  refer 
briefly  to  the  evidences  of  the  great  mobility  of  capital  in  circulating  from  the  United 
States  to  the  other  members  of  the  Pan  American  Union,  thus  demonstrating  the 
inapplicability  of  the  old  definition  of  international  trade.  Capital  flows  freely  from 
the  United  States  to  every  country  in  Latin  America  whenever  a  favorable  oppor- 
tunity for  investment  arises ;  nor  is  it  necessary,  as  formerly,  that  the  rate  of  interest 
shall  be  abnormally  high  in  order  to  tempt  it.  In  view  of  the  well  known  abnormal 
timidity  of  capital  in  the  face  of  even  a  suspicion  of  danger,  it  is  apparent  that  this 
new  condition  of  affairs,  so  gratifying  to  the  Pan  American  Union,  is  due  to  the 
sense  of  security  which  attends  the  maintenance  of  law  and  order,  guaranteed  by 
stable  governments,  and  it  testifies  to  the  great  advance  made  in  recent  years  by- 
Latin  America.  According  to  the  most  competent  authorities  a  conservative  esti- 
mate of  the  amount  of  capital  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  invested  in  Latin 
America  is  in  the  neighborhood  of  $1,122,500,000,  of  which  $750,000,000  is  in  Mexico, 
$150,000,000  is  in  Cuba,  $50,000,000  in  Brazil,  $40,000,000  in  Argentina,  $35,000,000 
in  Peru  and  $40,000,000  in  Central  America.  I  have  here  a  detailed  statement  of  the 
distribution  of  this  capital  by  countries  (Table  A  annexed  hereto).  The  investment 
in  Latin  America  of  such  a  vast  amount  of  United  States  capital  is  perhaps  the 
greatest  existing  factor  in  the  development  of  the  export  trade  of  the  United  States 
with  Latin  America. 

Our  thoughts  naturally  revert,  on  this  occasion,  to  the  memorable  Pan  Ameri- 
can Conference  of  1899,  out  of  which  grew  the  splendid  and  efficient  Pan  American 
Union.  At  that  conference,  presided  over  by  Secretary  of  State  Blaine,  there  were 
seventeen  Republics  of  America  represented.  Fifteen  of  these  expressed  _themselves 
formally  in  favor  of  closer  reciprocal  commercial  relations  with  the  United  States, 
and  the  other  two  gave  their  conditional  approval  of  the  movement. 

Now,  to  outline  briefly  some  of  the  results  of  that  movement :  The  so-called 
Blaine  reciprocity  agreements,  which  were  concluded  by  the  President  of  the  United 
States  uyder  the  authority  of  section  3  of  the  McKinley  tariff  law  ^f  1890  with 
several  countries  of  Latin  America,  achieved  wonderful  results  during  the  brief 
time  in  which  they  were  in  operation,  namely,  from  1891  to  1894  being  all  abrogated 
by  a  provision  in  the  Wilson  tari-ff  law  of  the  latter  year.  The  total  exports  of  the 

82 


United  States  to  Latin  American  countries  in  1891,  before  the  reciprocal  period 
were  valued  at  $90,000,000;  in  1893,  in  the  midst  of  the  reciprocal  period  they  rose 
to  $103,000,000,  and  in  1895,  immediately  following  the  reciprocal  period  they  fell 
to  $88,000,000.  Clearly  these  figures  are  significant  of  the  benefits  of  reciprocity 
between  the  United  States  and  the  countries  of  Latin  America. 

When  we  speak  of  the  trade  of  the  United  States  in  South  America  we 
endeavor  to  express  it  in  the  percentage  shares  enjoyed  by  the  competing  nations 
in  the  distribution  of  the  import  trade  of  the  various  countries.  For  the  purpose  of 
these  remarks  I  have  compiled  a  brief  table  which,  it  seems  to  me,  shows  very 
effectively  that  the  efforts  of  the  United  States  Government  and  the  efforts  of  the 
Pan  American  Union,  supported  by  the  efforts  of  the  American  business  public, 
have  not  been  in  vain  since  1889,  the  date  of  that  memorable  conference  at  Wash- 
ington, when  the  attention  of  the  American  people  was  first  focused  on  the  trade 
possibilities  in  Latin  America,  and  especially  since  1904,  when  unusually  strenuous 
efforts  began  to  be  put  forth  for  the  extension  of  our  commerce  with  the  countries 
composing  the  Pan  American  Union. 

.  Let  us  first  take  Brazil:  The  percentage  share  of  the  United  States  in  the 
total  import  trade  of  Brazil  in  1889  was  only  5.5  per  cent;  in  1904  it  was  n.i  per 
cent.,  and  in  1909  it  was  12.4  per  cent.  The  percentage  share  of  the  United  States 
in  the  import  trade  of  Argentina  in  1889  was  10.2  per  cent;  in  1904,  13  per  cent, 
and  in  1909,  14.2  per  cent  In  the  case  of  Chile  the  percentage  rose  from  5.9  per 
cent,  in  1889  to  8.9  per  cent,  in  1904,  and  10  per  cent,  in  1909.  I  have  not  the  figure 
of  1889  for  Peru  or  Colombia;  but  in  the  case  of  Peru  our  share  in  the  import 
trade  rose  from  17.4  per  cent,  in  1904  to  21.5  per  cent,  in  1909;  in  Colombia  from 
24.1  per  cent,  in  1906  to  32.9  per  cent,  in  1909;  and  in  Venezuela  from  24.8  per  cent, 
in  1904  to  29  per  cent,  in  1909. 

Taking  all  of  South  America  the  percentage  share  of  the  United  States  in  the 
total  import  trade  rose  slowly  but  steadily  from  7  per  cent,  in  1889  to  11.2  per  cent 
in  1904  and  to  14.3  per  cent,  in  1909.  These  are  not  shares,  but  the  outlook  is 
encouraging  for  a  better  showing  in  the  near  future.  (See  Table  B  herewith.) 

Clearly,  it  is  a  game  that  is  well  worth  while  when  we  consider  the  tremen- 
dous efforts  being  made  by  our  principal  competitors  in  neutral  markets,  backed  up 
by  their  respective  governments,  particularly  the  efforts  of  the  Germans  and  the 
British  and  the  French  and  the  Italians  to  hold  the  advantages  that  they  have  so 
long  possessed  in  South  America  and  to  improve  those  advantages.  It  seems  to 
me  that  the  trend  of  the  trade  is  significant,  for  the  development  of  our  percentage 
shares  in  the  import  trade  of  the  various  countries  in  South  America  indicates  a 
corresponding  displacement  of  the  European  nations  with  whom  American  exporters 
compete  in  those  markets. 

Taking  the  statistics  of  the  South  American  countries  for  the  latest  available 
year  (1909  for  the  most  part)  we  find  that  the  total  imports  into  all  South  America 
were  valued  at  $703,042,000,  of  which  $100,656,000,  or  14.3  per  cent,  came  from  the 
United  States.  On  the  other  hand,  the  exports  from  all  South  America  to  the 
world  were  valued  at  $965,875,000,  of  which  $198,309,400,  or  20.5  per  cent.,  were 
shipped  to  the  United  States. 

I  desire  to  say  something  respecting  the  extremely  promising  field  for  the 
application  of  the  principles  of  commercial  reciprocity  in  the  relations  between  the 
United  States  and  the  countries  of  Latin  America.  In  general,  there  is  no  conflict 
of  industrial  interests  between  the  United  States  and  those  countries.  They  produce 
staples  from  the  soil  and  the  forests  and  the  mines  which  we  do  not  produce  at  all, 
or  in  sufficient  quantities,  but  which  we  require.  We  manufacture  finished  products 
of  necessity  and  luxury  which  they  do  not  make,  but  which  they  seek  in  foreign 
markets.  This  relative  economic  situation  will  explain  the  present  great  inequality 
in  tariff  treatment  between  the  United  States  and  the  different  countries  of  Latin 
America.  For  example,  99.2  per  cent,  of  our  imports  from  Brazil  in  1909  were 
admitted  into  the  United  States  free  of  duty;  99  per  cent,  from  Chile;  90.65  per  cent. 
from  Peru,  and  83.8  per  cent,  from  total  South  America. 

As  regards  importations  into  the  United  States  from  Central  America,  tl 
showing  is  even  more  uniformly  striking,  for  96.5  per  cent,  of  the  importations  wer 
admitted  free  of  duty.     The  percentage  of  free  goods  from  Mexico  was  7»-O  per 
cent  and  from  Haiti  99.3  per  cent     From  Cuba,  however,  only  3.52  per  cent  o 
imports  were  on  our  free  list,  although  it  is  important  to  note  that  a  Hat  preterentia 
tariff  reduction  of  20  per  cent,  was  enjoyed  by  all  other  Cuban  products  entering  ou 
market.     If  we  leave  Cuba  out  of  consideration  the  per  cent,  of  free  impoi 

83 


from  all  Latin  America  was  83.1  per  cent,  in  1909,  or,  including  Cuba,  59.3  per  cent. 
(Table  C  herewith.) 

On  the  other  hand,  if  we  take  the  statistics  of  the  various  governments  of 
Latin  America  we  find  that  fully  75  per  cent,  of  the  importations  of  the  products  of 
the  United  States  into  those  countries  were  subject  to  tariff  duties.  It  is  safe  to 
say  that  the  average  dutiable  rate  imposed  on  these  products  which,  as  I  have  already 
said,  were  mostly  finished  manufactures,  is  25  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  while  there  are 
numerous  classes  of  products  that  pay  50  per  cent,  and  more.  For  example,  the 
average  ad  valorem  rate  on  dutiable  importations  into  Brazil  from  the  United  States 
is  50.  per  cent.;  in  the  case  of  Argentina  32.1  per  cent.;  Uruguay  36.4  per  cent,  and 
Mexico. 29.2  per  cent.  As  regards  the  proportion  of  dutiable  to  total  imports,  the 
Argentine  Republic  imposes  import  duties  on  76.4  per  cent,  of  her  total  imports 
from  the  United  States ;  Mexico  on  79.5  per  cent,  and  Uruguay  on  92.8  per  cent. 

As  I  have  stated,  it  seems  to  me  that  these  statistics  demonstrate  that  the 
reciprocity  policy  might  be  advantageously  applied  in  the  tariff  relations  between 
the  United  States  and  Latin  America,  thereby  encouraging  the  development  of  trade 
intercourse  between  all  nations  in  the  Pan  American  Union.  I  thank  you  for  your 
attention. 

TABLE  "A" 

Distribution  by  Countries  of  Capital  of  Citizens  of  the  United 

States  Invested  in  Latin  America 
South  America: 

Argentina $40,000,000 

Bolivia 10,000,000 

Brazil 50,000,000 

Chile 15,000,000 

Colombia 2,000,000 

Guianas 5,000,000 

Ecuador 10,000,000 

Peru 35,000,000 

Uruguay 5,000,000 

Venezuela 3,000,000 


Total  South  America $175,000,000 

Central  America: 

Costa  Rica $7,000,000 

Guatemala 20,000,000 

Honduras 3,000,000 

Nicaragua 2,500,000 

Panama 5,000,000 

Salvador 2,500,000 


Total  Central  America $40,000,000 

North  America: 

Cuba $150,000,000 

Haiti  and  Santo  Domingo 7,500,000 

Mexico 750,000,000 


Total  North  America $907,500,000 


Total  Latin  America $1,122,500,000 

TABLE    "B" 

Percentage  Share  of  the  United  States  in  the  Total  Import  Trade  of 
South  America  and  Certain  South  American  Countries 

Brazil        Argentina    Chile          Peru    Colombia        Venezuela        All  S.  A. 
1889  5-5(a)  10.2  5.9  (b)  (c)  22.9  7.0(0 

1894  19.8  10.9  6.9  10.3  (c)  28.4  11,7 

1899  21.6  13.2  7.7  10.2  (c)  32.o(e)        12.8 

1904  1 1. 1  13.0  8.9  17.4          24.1  (d)  24.8  n.2 

1909  12.4  14.2  TO.O  21.5  32.9  29.0  14.3 

84 


(a)  The  percentages  shown  underscored  are  derived  from  import  statistics 
of   the   South  American  country  in   question   and  export  statistics  of  the  United 
States;  those  not  underscored  are  derived  from  import  statistics  alone  and  mav 
therefore  be  considered  quite  correct. 

(b)  No  statistics  of  any  kind  seem  to  be  available. 

(c)  The  Colombian  statistics  for  these  years  are  expressed  partly  in  currency 
and  partly  in  gold,  with  a  resulting  confusion  that  makes  comparison  impossible 

(d)  1906. 

(e)  1898. 

(f)  The  figures  shown  in  this  column  can  be  no  more  than  approximations. 

TABLE    "C" 
Tariff  Treatment  of  Latin  American  Imports  into  United  States 

South  America: 

Free  Dutiable 

Argentina $3,745,6oo(a)  $18,484,700  (a) 

Bolivia . , 

Brazil 97,261,900 

Chile 13,581,300 

Colombia 6,730,000 

Ecuador 2,422,700  ' 

Paraguay 17,000                     

Peru 5,789,000  597,ooo 

Uruguay 38s,ooo(a)  3,342,ooo(a) 

Venezuela 7,199,800  1,1 13,800 

Total  South  America.. . $137,308,300 (b)  $26,570,400 (b) 
Central  America: 

Costa  Rica $2,654,400  $56,000 

Guatemala 3,097,300  51,000 

Honduras 2,123,300  27,000 

Nicaragua 850,000  154,800 

Panama 1,594,800  82,000 

Salvador 934,8oo  35,30O 

Total  Cent.  America...  $11,204,600  $406,500 
North  America: 

Cuba $3,404,400  $93,3i7,8oo 

Haiti 522,400  3,500 

Mexico 37,518,000  10,194,200 

Santo  Domingo 2,063,200  1,590,700 

Total  Latin  America.. .  .$192,070,900  $132,083,100 


791,000 
131,000 
937,ooo 
307,600 


Per  Cent,  of  Free 
16.85%  (a) 

99-20 
99-00 
86.60 
88.70 

IOO.OO 

90.65 

10.30    (a) 
86.60 
83-79     (b) 

98.00 
98.40 
98.70 
84.60 
95.10 
96.40 
96-50 

3-52 
99-30 
78.60 
56.50 
59-30  (c) 


(a)  Subtracting  from  dutiable  imports  and  adding  to  free  imports  the  value 
of  hides,  which  were  made  free  by  the  last  tariff  act,  the  following  revised  figures 
for  Argentina  and  Uruguay  are  obtained : 

Argentina : 

Free  imports,  $10,927,100. 

Dutiable  imports,  $11,303,100. 

Percentage  of  free,  49.2. 
Uruguay : 

Free  imports,  $2,587,800. 

Dutiable  imports,  $1,524,100. 

Percentage  of  free,  70.00. 

(b)  Allowing   for  change  in  hides   as   noted   above,   revised  figures   for  all 
South  America  are  as  follows: 

Free  imports,  $146,692,600. 
Dutiable  imports,  $17,186,100. 
Percentage  of  free,  89.50. 

(c)  Were  Cuba  left  out  of  consideration  the  per  cent,  of  free  imports  for  all 
Latin  America  would  be  83.10  per  cent.     If,  in  addition,  change  as  to  hides  be  also 
taken  into  account,  the  per  cent,  of  free  imports  would  be  87.20  per  cent. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :     I  want  you  to  draw  out  Mr.  Osborne  on  s< 
of  the  matters— I  mean  on  points  suggested  by  his  address  here.    He  has  a  grej 

85 


many  other  things  that  he  has  not  brought  out,  but  I  would  like  to  have  you  ask 
him  some  practical  questions. 

MR.  COFFIN,  of  Cincinnati:  I  have  a  practical  question.  Has  Mr.  Osborne, 
or  rather  his  department,  charge  of  the  preparation  of  a  new  directory  of  the  Latin 
American  countries  ? 

MR.  OSBORNE:  The  material  for  it  is  secured  by  the  Department  of  State 
from  the  consular  officers,  and  transmitted  to  the  Bureau  of  Manufacturers  of  the 
Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  by  which  it  is  published. 

MR.  COFFIN  :  May  I  ask  if  at  the  last  practical  moment  the  lists  for  the 
different  countries  will  be  re-submitted  to  the  various  consular  officers  for  correc- 
tion down  to  the  last  moment  ? 

MR.  OSBORNE:  We  have  been  transmitting  them,  at  the  request  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Commerce  and  Labor,  to  the  consular  officers  for  revision  for  some  months 
past,  and  we  have  understood  that  the  bulk  of  the  directory  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
printer.  I  am  unable  to  state  authoritatively  on  the  latter  point. 

MR.  COFFIN  :  Then  the  proof  sheets  will  hardly  go  to  the  consular  officers, 
will  they? 

MR.  OSBORNE  :     I  have  not  heard  of  such  intention. 

MR.  COFFIN  :  Of  course  it  will  be  a  great  advantage  if  the  exporter  could 
absolutely  rely  on  that  being  done,  as  nearly  as  possible,  up  to  the  date  of  publication. 

MR.  OSBORNE  :  One  point  has  just  occurred  to  me  of  an  encouraging  character. 
We  have  in  the  Bureau  with  which  I  have  been  connected  for  some  years  the  handling 
of  cases  of  complaints  on  the  part  of  the  American  business  public  as  respects  tariff 
treatment,  especially  tariff  classification  in  any  part  of  the  world.  I  have  noticed 
that  in  the  last  year  or  two  there  has  been  a  significantly  less  number  of  complaints 
on  the  part  of  American  business  men  respecting  Latin  America  in  comparison  with 
those  which  we  formerly  received.  That  is  especially  true  with  reference  to  alleged 
vexatious  treatment  and  wrongful  tariff  classification,  and  I  think  it  means  two 
things:  First,  that  they  have  a  more  scientific  and  efficient  administration  in  the 
several  countries  of  Latin  America,  and,  secondly,  that  our  people  understand  the 
requirements  better. 

MR.  POPE:  I  should  like  to  ask  a  question  of  the  gentleman.  Is  it  your 
individual  opinion  that  this  increase  of  trade  noted  by  yourself  during  these  years 
is  attributable  to  any  practical  measure  of  reciprocity  that  is  in  existence  between 
ourselves  and  any  of  the  South  American  countries  outside  of  Brazil? 

MR.  OSBORNE:  No,  because  we  have  no  reciprocal  arrangement  with  any 
country  of  Latin  America  at  this  moment,  with  the  exception  of  Brazil,  which  grants 
us  preferential  tariff  treatment  on  about  fifteen  classes  of  our  goods. 

MR.  COFFIN  :  But  there  has  been  some  reciprocity  measure  enacted  with 
Brazil  in  connection  with  the  admission  of  coffee  from  the  South,  and  so  forth,  and 
admitting  our  flour  there  under  lesser  duties  quite  recently. 

MR.  OSBORNE:  We  extend  to  Brazil  the  statutory  minimum  tariff  of  the 
United  States  at  the  present  time,  and  nothing  more. 

MR.  COFFIN  :  Then  it  is  to  be  supposed  that  if  measures  were  taken  for  a 
reciprocity  arrangement  with  these  countries  that  there  would  be  a  large  increase 
of  business,  because  we  must  give  and  take;  and  if  that  is  so,  would  it  not  be 
possible,  or  is  it  not  possible  for  this  institution  to  take  an  active  part  in  negotiating 
such  measures? 

MR.  OSBORNE:  I  should  say  so.  Speaking  for  myself,  and  being  responsible 
for  my  own  expression  of  opinion,  I  need  make  no  apology  for  favoring  emphatically 
the  policy  of  commercial  reciprocity,  because  I  was  connected  with  the  movement 
for  seven  years  as  a  secretary  of  the  Reciprocity  Commission  of  1897-1905. 

MR.  PHILIP  J.  FORBES  of  the  De  Haven  Mfg.  Co.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. :  What  per- 
centage of  the  imports  of  Latin  America  pay  any  duty  at  present  ? 

MR.  OSBORNE:  A  very  small  percentage.  I  have  the  figures.  Of  the  total 
imports  into  the  United  States  from  Latin  America,  according  to  the  latest  available 
statistics  of  the  United  States,  59.3  per  cent,  were  admitted  free  (omitting  Cuba  the 
percentage  of  free  imports  is  increased  to  83.1  per  cent.,  as  above  stated). 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :     Practically  60  per  cent.     That  is  very  interesting. 

MR.  OSBORNE  :  But  take  South  America  alone.  We  admit  from  there  83.8 
per  cent.,  let  us  say  84  per  cent.,  free  of  duty.  . 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  That  is  very  interesting,  that  already  84  per 
cent,  from  South  America  comes  in  free  of  duty. 

86 


MR  OSBORNE:  Then,  from  Central  America  96.5  per  cent,  are  admitted  into 
the  United  States  free  of  duty. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  do  not  think  those  figures  are  generally 
appreciated.  1  believe  they  ought  to  he  brought  out  rather  strongly,  in  order  to 
overcome  the  impression  that  prevails  that  there  has  not  been  perhaps  as  much  con- 
sideration of  that  fact  as  there  should  be. 

MR.  OSBORNE  :  The  general  average  for  total  Latin  America  is  brought  down 
very  much  by  the  introduction  of  Cuba,  because  only  3.5  per  cent,  of  all  our  imports 
from  Cuba  are  admitted  free  of  duty.  Of  course,  we  give  a  preferential  tariff  reduc- 
tion of  20  per  cent,  in  favor  of  all  dutiable  imports  from  Cuba,  and,  as  you  all  know, 
the  20  per  cent,  reduction  in  favor  of  Cuban  sugar  and  tobacco  involve  the  annual 
remission  of  revenue  of  something  like  $12,000,000  a  year  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States. 

MR.  CLARK,  of  Youngstown,  Ohio :  Which  do  you  consider  the  most  serious 
obstacle  to  trade  development  between  the  United  States  and  South  America:  The 
tariff  imposts  or  lack  of  adequate  shipping  facilities? 

MR.  OSBORNE  :  The  lack  of  adequate  shipping  facilities,  for,  as  regards  tariff 
treatment,  the  United  States  enjoys  complete  equality  of  treatment  with  European 
competitors  in  the  markets  of  South  America.  There  is  no  discrimination.  All 
countries  pay  alike.  With  respect  to  the  shipping  facilities,  however,  we  are  not  on 
an  equality,  as  Mr.  Baker  well  knows. 

MR.  KRAUSZ  :  Do  you  know  anything  about  the  treatment  of  travelers' 
samples  received  in  South  America? 

MR.  OSBORNE:  Yes,  Mr.  Krausz,  there  is  a  very  interesting  little  pamphlet 
which  has  been  gotten  out  by  the  Bureau  of  Manufactures  on  the  subject  of  com- 
mercial travelers,  regulations  covering  admission  of  commercial  travelers  and  sam- 
ples into  foreign  countries,  published  in  1908.  Have  you  ever  seen  that  publication? 

MR.  KRAUSZ  :  I  have  not  seen  that  pamphlet.  I  would  be  very  interested  to 
see  it. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  That  pamphlet  has  proved  very  useful,  Mr.  Krausz, 
and  very  valuable,  because  I  know  that  from  hundreds  of  manufacturers  that  have 
reported  to  us  that  they  have  found  it  very  useful. 

MR.  OSBORNE:  Under  the  head  of  "South  America"  we  have  the  regulations 
of  Argenrina,  Bolivia,  Chile,  Colombia,  Ecuador,  Faulkan  Island,  Guiana,  Paraguay, 
Peru,  Uruguay  and  Venezuela. 

MR.  KRAUSZ  :  I  hope  some  of  these  have  been  remedied  between  1900  and 
1911,  because  I  had  some  very  sad  experience  in  regard  to  that. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  That  is  an  interesting  suggestion,  and  we  are 
glad  to  know  of  that. 

MR.  FORBES  LINDSAY:  There  is  no  discrimination  against  American  manu- 
facturers as  compared  with  European  manufacturers  in  transportation  matters  in 
the  rates,  of  course. 

MR.  OSBORNE  :  I  was  thinking  particularly  of  the  fact  that  the  European  ship- 
pers had  the  advantage  of  having  more  frequent  and  more  rapid  shipping  communi- 
cation with  South  America  than  I  was  of  the  question  of  discriminations. 

MR.  FORBES  LINDSAY  :  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  they  do  discriminate  in  the  matter 
of  rate? 

MR.  OSBORNE  :     I  have  frequently  heard  the  statement  made  that  they  do.       < 

MR.  LEONARD  S.  SMITH,  of  the  Am.  Laundry  Machine  Co.,  Cincinnati:  Is  H 
not  a  fact  that  the  rates  from  Germany  are,  generally  speaking,  about  half  of  what 
they  are  from  New  York — steamer  rates? 

MR.  OSBORNE  :  I  have  heard  that  statement. 

MR.  SMITH  :  I  know  it  to  be  a  fact.  . 

MR.  CLIFFORD,  of  Pittsburg:  How  can  your  pamphlet  be  obtained,  Mr.  L 

6 'MR.  OSBORNE:     On  application  to  the  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Manufactures, 
under  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor. 

MR.   LINDEMAY:  Mr.  Osborne,  in  reference  to  the  Gallinger  amendment 
the  laws  of  1891,  will  you  kindly  state  briefly  the  substance  of  that  amendment? 

MR.  OSBORNE:     It  simply  moves  up  the  16  knot  vessels  up  to  20  from  two 

dD\racTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Mr.  Baker,  presently,  is  going  to  give  us  a  little 
talk  on  this  very  subject  here  this  morning. 

87 


MR.  PROTZMAN,  of  Indiana:  I  would  just  like  to  ask  the  gentleman  what  per 
cent,  of  the  total  trade  of  the  United  States  is  foreign. 

MR.  OSBORNE  :     What  per  cent,  of  the  foreign  trade  with  Latin  America  ? 

MR.  PROTZMAN:  No,  sir;  I  just  want  to  know  what  per  cent,  of  the  trade  is 
foreign  and  what  per  cent,  is  domestic. 

MR.  OSBORNE:  As  respects  shipping? 

MR.  PROTZMAN  :  As  respects  everything. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  are  not  discussing  that  today— purely  trade 
with  Latin  America.  I  wish  we  had  time,  but  every  moment  is  so  valuable  that  we 
must  take  up  only  matters  germane  to  the  issue.  Are  there  any  other  questions? 

PROF.  WILLIAM  R.  SHEPHERD  of  Columbia  University:  Mr.  Osborne,  is  it  not 
true  that  we  are  a  parcels  post  country? 

MR.  OSBORNE  :  We  are,  most  decidedly. 

PROF.  SHEPHERD  :  And  that  Brazil  extends  us  preferential  treatment  on  fifteen 
articles  ? 

MR.  OSBORNE:  That  is  true. 

PROF.  SHEPHERD:    Then  why  is  our  percentage  of  trade  so  small? 

MR.  OSBORNE  :  Of  course,  the  articles  in  respect  to  which  we  receive  prefer- 
ential treatment,  with  the  exception  of  flour,  are  not  among  the  leading  articles  that 
we  supply  to  Brazil;  and  then  it  is  true  that  the  reduction  in  number  of  American 
products  of  Brazil,  although  considerable,  and  although  valuable  as  being  preferential 
in  respect  to  the  United  States  alone,  is  not  enough  in  some  cases  to  reduce  the 
duty  to  the  point  where  the  United  States  can  sell  extensively  to  it.  I  should  say, 
however,  that  the  best  answer  to  your  question  is  the  superior  advantage  possessed 
by  the  European  countries  who  have  been  so  long  in  possession  of  an  important 
share  of  that  trade. 

PROF.  SHEPHERD  :  Would  that  same  answer  apply  to*  the  conditions  in  the 
north,  with  which  our  trade  is  much  better,  or  in  Argentina,  where  the  percentage 
is  over  14,  and  we  are  not  Argentina's  best  customers,  and  Argentina  does  not 
accord  preferential  treatment? 

MR.  OSBORNE:  In  respect  to  the  countries  with  which  we  have  high  percentage 
of  export  trade,  those  countries  along  the  northern  coast  of  South  America,  I  think 
Mr.  Baker  could  touch  on  that  point  and  show  that  the  operation  of  the  postal  aid 
law  of  1891  has  had  some  effect  in  giving  the  United  States  a  decided  advantage 
over  European  countries. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  do  not  want  to  stop  this  discussion,  but  to 
each  address  we  have  a  limited  amount  of  time  to  give.  Mr.  Osborne  has  kindly 
consented  to  prepare  a  paper  embodying  his  figures  and  statistics,  which  are  very 
elaborate  and  carefully  prepared,  to  be  in  our  printed  record,  which  will  be  very 
useful  to  you  all. 

We  are  very  fortunate  this  morning  in  having  here  to  address  us  Hon.  Hunt- 
ington  Wilson,  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  State. 

ADDRESS  OF  HON.  HUNTINGTON  WILSON,  ASSISTANT 
SECRETARY  OF  STATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Mr.  WILSON  said: 

Gentlemen  of  the  Pan  American  Commercial  Congress:  I  was  hoping  all  day 
yesterday  to  have  the  pleasure  of  saying  a  few  words  to  you,  but  each  time  I  started 
to  come,  something  had  turned  up  in  the  department  that  stopped  me.  This  may 
be  surprising  to  those  who  have  the  old-fashioned  idea  of  departmental  life,  but 
from  my  observation  of  it  I  have  concluded  that  when  I  am  broken  down  with 
work  I  shall  become  a  business  man  as  a  rest  cure. 

I  understand  that  the  object  of  this  conference  is  to  bring  into  contact  for 
the  exchange  of  views  our  own  officials  and  business  men  and  officials  and  business 
men  of  the  Latin  American  countries;  and  I  should  think  that  would  serve  a  very 
useful  purpose  indeed.  I  did  not  hear  the  addresses  of  yesterday,  and  I  am 
very  much  afraid  that  you  have  already  heard  as  much  speaking  as  you  can 
stand. 

I  think  it  is  so  very  important  that  officials  of  the  branches  of  pur^  govern- 
ment having  to  do  with  foreign  commerce  should  be  in  close  communication  with 
American  business  men,  and  I  regard  this  as  so  important  an  opportunity  for 
officials  of  the  Department  of  State  to  talk  with  American  business  men,  so  well 

88 


represented  here,  that  I   am  sure  the  foreign  diplomatic  or  other  foreign  people 
here  will  excuse  me  if  I  address  what  little  I  have  to  say  to  my  own  countrymen 

Of  course,  the  Pan  American  Union,  this  very  useful  institution,  belongs 
equally  to  the  twenty-one  republics  and  is  bound  to  serve  the  interests  equally  of 
all.  I  wish  I  could  impress  upon  the  American  business  men  that  there  is  a  buildin* 
across  the  street,  the  Department  of  State,  in  which  they  have  not  the  twenty-first 
interest,  but  which  is  wholly  at  their  service  in  the  great  work  of  expanding  our 
commerce. 

I  want  to  speak  a  little  about  the  foreign  service  in  that  sense  It  will  not 
be  to  speak  entirely  of  what  is  only  our  own  interest  to  speak  of  the  foreign 
service,  because  every  country  is  interested  in  having  a  good  foreign  service  of  its 
own.  Every  foreign  service  should  be  composed  of  fair  samples  of  the  national 
citizenship.  They  are  the  people  who  are  in  the  international  showcase,  for  one 
thing.  The  American  foreign  service  we  want  to  have  thoroughly  American,  thor- 
oughly familiar  with  the  conditions  and  interests  of  our  own  country,  and  with 
just  that  measure  of  cosmopolitanism  necessary  for  its  fitness  in  the  foreign  field 
Foreign  service  is  of  general  interest  everywhere,  too,  because  just  as  peace 
depends  on  good  understanding,  good  understanding  depends  upon  intelligent  re- 
flection of  the  policies  of  government. 

Before  going  back  to  the  foreign  service  I  would  like  to  speak  a  little  about 
foreign  trade— some  general  points  about  it.  I  think  the  presence  of  so  many 
American  manufacturers  and  experts  as  have  attended  this  conference  shows  that 
the  American  business  men  are  now  realizing  the  necessity  for  getting  hold  of 
foreign  markets.  Of  course,  the  President  has  pointed  out  lately  that  this  country 
will  soon  be  an  importer  of  foodstuffs  probably.  If  we  do  not  expand  our  export 
of  manufactures,  who  shall  we  pay  for  the  foodstuffs?  And,  it  should  not  take 
much  foresight  to  see  that  although  foreign  markets  may  not  be  very  essential  or 
even  very  important  to  us  today,  that  if  they  are  still  to  be  there  when  they  are 
necessary  for  our  economic  existence  we  must  secure  a  foothold  now.  The  open 
door  of  commercial  opportunity  will  not  stay  open  if  no  one  goes  in  and  out.  Your 
competitors  will  be  so  intrenched  that  when  you  are  ready  to  consent  to  go  into 
the  foreign  field  the  strong  habit  of  placing  orders  in  other  countries  will  have 
created  conditions  where  it  will  be  infinitely  more  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  get 
in.  The  obstacles,  such  as  lack  of  banks  and  shipping  lines,  I  know  have  been  fully 
touched  on.  There  are  a  few  ways  in  which  I  think  American  business  might 
prosper  more  promptly  in  foreign  countries.  Beginning  with  some  of  the  more 
hackneyed  and  well-known  points,  I  noticed  day  before  yesterday  that  Mr.  Farrell 
of  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation  defended  American  packing.  I  could  not 
help  thinking  or  fearing  that  his  optimism  might  be  due  to  the  sturdy  character  of 
the  product  he  is  especially  interested  in.  I  personally  knew  of  a  large  shipment  of 
glassware  shipped  to  Chefoo,  China,  which  was  so  wretchedly  packed  that  it  was 
all  smashed ;  and  such  unfavorable  terms  had  been  given  that  the  Chinese  merchants 
were  expected  to  pay,  and  when  they  called  for  redress  they  were  referred  to  the 
head  of  this  firm's  stationery,  saying,  "All  breakage  at  risk  of  consignee."  Now, 
just  here  there  is  a  practical  point.  Some  what  you  might  call  well-trained  com- 
mercial nations  have  a  regular  system  of  survey,  in  which  the  consul  has  certain 
authority;  and  if  a  merchant  complains  at  the  port  of  arrival  of  that  country's 
product  that  it  arrived  in  bad  condition,  there  is  a  committee  composed  of  the 
consul  and  reliable  citizens  of  the  exporting  nation,  and  if  they  say  it  was  the  fault 
of  the  shipper  the  shipper  can  be  forced  to  make  good.  I  think  it  is  very  necessary 
that  we  should  have  some  such  arrangement,  or  that  our  merchants  should  them- 
selves find  some  way  to  ostracize  and  punish  the  individual  firms  who,  by  their  own 
carelessness,  will  queer  the  whole  line  of  products. 

Also,  the  point  about  extending  credits  has  been  touched  upon,  of  course. 
Most  of  these  points  are  so  very  hackneyed  through  years  of  consular  reports. 

The  point  of  the  commercial  traveler  brings  me  to  what  I  consider  one  of 
the  most  important  phases  of  the  subject.  It  is,  of  course,  absurd  for  this  country 
to  try  to  compete  without  sending,  as  others  do,  trained  commercial  travelers  who 
know  the  language  and  know  how  to  get  things  before  different  peoples  in  the  most 
agreeable,  and  therefore  the  most  successful  manner.  Naturally,  every  firm  cannot 
have  a  commercial  representative  traveling  in  every  country,  but  I  fail  to  see  why 
different  people  in  the  same  line,  for  instance— shoes  and  cotton  goods— could  nol 
combine  and  send  trained  agents  to  the  different  countries  on  some  arrangement 
to  divide  the  business  among  themselves.  There  is  so  much  opportunity  at  home 

89 


TAN  AME.RICAX  V«ort 


it  is  not  easy  to  get  proper  men  for  agents,  but  it  has  occurred  to  me  that  the 
surplus  of  the  men  who  pass  the  consular  examination  would  be  excellent  material 
They  are  obliged  to  know  foreign  languages,  they  have  to  know  a  good  deal  about 
business  affairs  to  pass,  and  it  is  the  rule  of  the  department  to  keep  fifty  or  sixtv 
more  than  there  are  vacancies  on  this  eligible  list  It  is  a  very  good  opportunity 
for  young  men.  We  hear  so  much  about  combination.  It  seems  to  me  that  the 
field  of  foreign  commerce  is  the  ideal  field  for  combination— not  combination  in 
restraint,  but  m  promotion  of  trade,  for  the  widest  sort  of  combination  That 
would  enable  the  people  in  the  same  line  to  have  these  representatives  everywhere 
It  would  lead  to  other  things.  When  a  government  places  a  foreign  loan,  very  often 
the  money  is  required  for  public  works,  battleships,  railways— whatever'  it  may  be 
If  we  had  an  ideal  co-ordination  of  effort  in  the  foreign  field  it  could  be  suggested 
at  the  same  time  to  the  foreign  government,  "Yes,  we  will  make  the  loan  if  you 
will  take  our  materials  for  these  public  works."  We  should  have  the  manufacturer, 
the  banker,  the  exporter,  in  intelligent  accord  for  such  business.  We  are  such 
hopeless  individualists  that  it  may  sound  Utopian  to  suggest  such  a  thing,  but  exag- 
gerated individualism  has  no  place  in  promoting  the  foreign  trade  in  a  patriotic  and 
scientific  manner;  and  if  we  are  going  into  this  thing  we  shall  have  to  take  a  leaf 
out  of  the  book  of  the  advanced  nations  in  this  particular  sphere.  The  most  expert 
nations  in  foreign  commerce  are  organized  so  that  the  whole  economic  fabric, 
industrial,  financial,  commercial,  through  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  other 
organizations,  is  linked  up  with  the  proper  departments  of  the  Government;  so  that 
when  there  is  a  development  in  this  line  or  that  line,  a  foreign  loan  associated  with 
public  works,  the  opportunities  are  quietly  and  intelligently  passed  to  those  who 
might  avail  of  it,  and  the  whole  economic  energy  of  that  country  presents  an  undi- 
vided front  in  the  foreign  field — and  that  is  what  the  United  States  will  have  to 
meet. 

I  think  we  have  too  many  organizations  which  talk  and  dine,  and  not  enough 
real  co-operation — scientific  co-operation. 

Taking  for  granted  that  you  gentlemen  want  to  see  our  foreign  trade  grow, 
and  that  you  think  that  your  Government  can  be  of  some  assistance  in  the  matter, 
I  would  like  to  speak  a  little  bit  about  that.  In  general,  of  course,  the  way  the 
Government  can  assist  is  by  having  an  efficient  foreign  service.  Now,  how  can  we 
get  an  efficient  foreign  service?  The  foundation  of  an  efficient  foreign  service  must 
be  an  efficient  Department  of  State;  and  Secretary  Knox,  at  the  beginning  of  this 
administration,  completely  reorganized  our  Department  of  State.  Formerly  there 
were  not  enough  men  to  give  attention  to  all  the  important  things,  and  there  was 
no  system.  At  present  we  have  big  Bureau  of  Trade  .Relations,  greatly  increased ; 
we  have  the  Division  of  Latin  America,  the  Division  of  Near  Eastern,  the  Division 
of  Far  Eastern  and  the  Division  of  Western  European  Affairs.  In  each  one  of  those 
we  have  men  who  have  served  in  the  countries  concerned,  who  have  recent  direct 
knowledge  of  the  conditions,  commercial  and  political,  in  every  part  of  the  world. 
You  can  see  at  once  how  indispensable  that  is.  It  makes  it  possible  under  the  new 
regime  to  cultivate  not  only  the  far-eastern  field,  or,  another  year,  the  Latin  America ; 
but  what  Secretary  Knox  is  trying  to  do  is  to  have  a  sort  of  universal  specialization 
to  promote  American  interests  as  far  as  possible  in  each  part  of  the  world  as  if  it 
were  the  only  one.  Of  course,  water  cannot  rise  higher  than  its  source.  You 
might  have  the  best  possible  consular  and  diplomatic  service,  and  if  you  did  not 
have  an  expert  and  specialized  department  to  guide  it,  you  might  as  well  have  none 
at  all.  So  I  think  that  was  a  very  great  step  forward. 


cherishes 

the  foreign  service  did  the  more  for  commerce,  1  should  really  find  it  very  difficult 
to  estimate   whether  it  was  the  diplomatic  or  the  consular.     I  think  perhaps   the 
figures  of  the  past  two  years  would  show  that  it  was  the  diplomatic.     As  I  said  once 
before,  it  is  the  diplomatic  service  that  makes  the  commercial  arrangements,  that 
creates  the  friendly  feeling  that  results  in  American  business  where  public  work: 
are  concerned,  that  creates  and  maintains,  in  short,  the  conditions  in  which  a 
work  of  the  consular  service  are  possible.     So  I  do  hope  no  one  will  go  on  sup 
posing  that  the  diplomatic  service  is  not  a  practical  commercial  machine,  as  well 
the  consular  service  is,  in  addition  to  its  purely  political  duties. 

I  am  sure  you  know  enough  about  the  various  things  in  which  the  'nfluenc. 
of  the  Government  and  enterprise  of  Americans  have  worked  together  in  tl 


few  years.  I  will  not  recapitulate,  but  matters  where  you  might  say  private  enter- 
prise and  Government  support  worked  together — I  make  it  in  the  last  two  years — 
have  totaled  about  $120,000,000;  and  there  being  other  fish  to  fry,  I  think  that  before 
long  it  might  reach  the  $200,000,000  point.  The  whole  foreign  service  establishment 
costs  the  Government  $1,200,000. 

How  to  get  a  good  foreign  service:  Briefly — there  are  two  bad  systems, 
I  think;  one  is  the  system  where  a  man  enters  the  service  young  and  has 
only  to  grow  old  to  be  promoted;  that  is  no  inspiration,  and  he  may  find  himself  a 
minister  or  ambassador  and  be  of  no  particular  use.  I  do  not  know  whether  this 
is  not  just  as  bad,  or  very  nearly  as  bad,  as  our  old  spoils  system,  where  a  man 
temperamentally  disqualified  for  foreign  service,  as  well  as  mentally,  was  as  likely 
as  not  to  find  himself  in  a  post  requiring  the  greatest  ability  and  technical  training 
and  the  most  delicate  tact.  Something  between  the  two  would  be  a  foreign  service 
where  good,  efficient  men  were  sure  of  a  career,  and  those  who  did  brilliantly,  and 
only  those  would  be  sure  of  going  to  the  top  of  the  career  as  ambassadors  or  minis- 
ters in  the  highest  grade.  That  would,  of  course,  leave  open  some  embassies  and 
missions  for  outside  appointments,  for  which  really  eminent  men  would  be  chosen. 
It  would  only  be  an  example  of  the  law  of  supply  and  demand  to  point  out  that 
secretaries  selected  in  our  examinations  are  not  all  likely  to  turn  out  good  enough 
to  be  ambassadors.  That  is  the  general  principle  on  which  the  service  has  been 
going.  Of  course,  Mr.  Cleveland  started  with  the  first  executive  order  establishing 
an  examination.  The  consular  service  rests  on  the  executive  order  of  1906,  and 
the  departmental  and  diplomatic  personnel,  so  far  as  their  efficiency  is  safeguarded, 
rests  on  the  President's  order  of  November,  1909. 

About  how  those  things  have  worked  out — it  is  interesting  to  know  that  out 
of  63  appointments  made  under  the  new  regime  in  the  consular  service,  32  were 
from  the  North  and  31  from  the  South.  Now,  that  looks  about  as  non-partisan 
as  anything  could  be ;  and  in  the  diplomatic  secretaryships,  out  of  20,  13  from  the 
North  and  7  from  the  South;  out  of  the  ambassadors  and  ministers  now  in 
the  service,  16  have  been  promoted  from  the  grades  of  secretary,  so  that  is  a  pretty 
good  showing  for  the  merit  system.  Now,  the  only  thing  I  really  intended  to  speak 
about  was  Mr.  Lowden's  bill  for  the  improvement  of  the  foreign  service,  so  at  last 
I  have  got  to  that  point  and  will  say  a  very  few  words  more.  If  you  are  interested 
in  the  merit  system  in  the  foreign  service,  then  you  have  heard  no  doubt  of  the 
Cullom-Sterling  bill.  Mr.  Lowden  has  introduced  bills  for  several  years,  and  there 
has  been  the  Cullom-Sterling  bill.  Every  bill  of  the  sort  was  thrown  out,  because 
the  Constitution  says,  "The  President,  by  and  with  the  advice  of  the  Senate,"  etc., 
"shall  appoint  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers  and  consuls ;"  and  Congress  would 
not  naturally  pass  a  bill  seeking  to  curtail  this  constitutional  power.  So  that  the 
Cullom-Sterling  bill  is  absolutely  futile.  I  understand  that  all  the  Chambers  of 
Commerce  in  the  country  are  on  record  for  the  Cullom-Sterling  bill,  while  every  one 
in  Washington  now  admits  that  the  Cullom-Sterling  bill  is  out  of  the  question,  in 
that  it  is  unconstitutional.  Mr.  Lowden,  convinced  of  this,  devised  a  new  bill  which 
has  been  just  reported  by  the  foreign  affairs  committee,  and  I  am  sanguine  enough 
to  think  that  it  will  pass.  It  perpetuates  the  diplomatic,  consular  and  departmental 
examination;  makes  mandatory  the  keeping  of  impartial  efficiency  records  in  all 
three  branches  of  the  foreign  service;  it  makes  mandatory  the  report  by  the  Secre- 
tary of  State  to  the  President  of  all  these  data.  It  stops  there,  leaving  a,  President 
free  to  make  appointments,  but  to  make  them  under  the  moral  pressure  'of  having 
before  him  all  the  data  showing  who  has,  through  impartial  examinations  and 
through  the  keeping  of  the  efficiency  records,  been  found  fit  for  appointment  or 
promotion,  and  having  that  all  before  him  as  the  result  of  and  with  the  sanction  of 
a  law  of  Congress.  Every  one  interested  in  the  foreign  service  who  is  familiar 
with  it  feels  that  that  bill  is  an  ideal  bill ;  and  I  want  to  bespeak  for  the  American 
business  men  here  their  cordial  support  of  that,  instead  of  one  there  is  no  chance 
of  getting.  Mr.  Lowden  of  Illinois  has  for  years  shown  the  greatest  interest  in  the 
foreign  service,  and  he  has  recently  performed  the  feat  of  causing  a  bill  to  pass  the 
House,  and  it  has  also  passed  the  Senate,  authorizing  the  Secretary  of  State  to  esti- 
mate each  year  for  diplomatic  and  consular  buildings  abroad.  That,  of  course,  is 
a  good  bill,  too,  and  we  of  the  department  are  very  much  in  favor  of  it.  But  we 
think  that  the  other  bill  is  still  more  important,  because  we  think  that  men  are  more 
important  than  houses,  and  that  the  first  thing  is  to  pass  a  bill  which  will,  if  possible, 
insure  a  useful  trained  personnel  whom  we  shall  be  sure  are  worth  housing. 

Thank  you. 

92 


DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  am  sure  we  are  very  grateful  to  Mr.  Wilson 
for  this  discussion.  He  says  he  prefers  to  be  excused  from  being  asked  any  ques- 
tions, and  we  will  then  proceed  directly  from  that  address  to  one  of  Mr.  Bernard  N 
Baker,  of  Baltimore,  on  the  question  of  shipping,  and  Mr.  Baker  will  be  glad  to 
answer  any  questions  following  his  remarks. 

I  want  to  say  that  Mr.  Baker  is  one  of  the  best  known  authorities  on  shipping 
matters,  and  is  very  much  concerned  with  the  improvement  that  may  come  from  the 
Panama  Canal  and  the  use  of  the  Canal. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  BERNARD  N.  BAKER 

HOW  CAN  WE  REALIZE  THE  BENEFITS  OF  THE  PANAMA  CANAL? 

Mr.  BAKER  said: 

Director  and  Gentlemen:  I  do  not  know  that  I  can  sustain  the  reputation  the 
Director  General  has  given  me,  but  I  will  do  the  best  I  can.  I  have  prepared  a 
short  paper  here  which  will  not  take  me  but  a  few  minutes  to  read,  and  then  I  will 
be  very  glad  to  answer  any  questions. 

The  realization  of  our  great  water  highway  through  the  Isthmus  of  Panama 
has  long  been  regarded  by  us  as  perhaps  the  most  stupendous  physical  achievement 
ever  contributed  towards  the  world's  betterment.  But  there  has  been  some  fear 
that  the  people  of  the  United  States  might  attain  only  the  glory  of  this  great  work, 
while  the  material  profits  would  flow  into- the  coffers  of  Europe  and  the  Far  East. 
It  is  not  sufficient  merely  to  effect  the  physical  connection  of  the  two  oceans,  with 
no  fixed  purpose  in  view  other  than  the  military  advantage  of  quick  mobilization 
of  our  warships  in  either  ocean.  If  nothing  else  than  this  is  accomplished,  our 
colossal  expenditure  will  be  merely  an  altruistic  donation  to  international  trade 
conquest  at  the  expense  of  our  own  industrial  welfare.  It  behooves  us,  therefore, 
to  adopt  such  measures  as  will  insure  a  measure  of  practical  benefit  to  ourselves 
commensurate  with  the  huge  investment  involved.  The  most  important  question, 
then,  is  the  development  of  our  commerce  to  use  the  Canal  when  completed. 

When  our  Government  undertook  this  great  work  the  fundamental  question 
to  decide  was,  of  course,  the  character  of  canal  to  be  built;  and  it  was  decided, 
after  careful  thought  and  study,  to  build  a  lock  canal.  This  decision  did  not  meet 
with  universal  acceptance,  as  might  have  been  expected,  particularly  from  those  who 
had  not  made  a  study  of  the  subject,  not  to  mention  some  of  the  interests  antago- 
nistic to  any  waterway.  Speaking,  as  a  practical  steamship  man,  of  the  difficulty 
of  passing  a  large  volume  of  tonnage  through  the  locks,  I  am  prepared  to  say  that 
this  difficulty  is  not  great  nor  is  it  an  item  to  be  very  seriously  considered.  My  own 
experience  was  in  English  ports,  particularly  that  of  London,  where  for  many  years 
we  passed  through  Tilbury  Locks  the  largest  ships  that  entered  that  harbor^  and 
never,  even  with  the  most  unfavorable  weather  conditions,  did  any  serious  accident 
occur  to  interfere  with  the  proper  working  of  the  Locks.  Any  intelligent  person, 
even  though  he  is  not  an  experienced  engineer,  who  will  visit  the  Canal  Zone  and 
observe  the  construction  of  the  Canal  and  study  local  conditions  will  perceive  how 
impracticable  a  sea-level  canal  would  be,  both  as  to  cost  and  time.  I  therefore  feel 
fully  warranted  in  saying  that  the  efficient  use  of  the  Canal  constructed  upon  present 
lines  might  be  regarded  as  an  established  fact. 

There  are  two  distinct  opportunities  presented  for  American  utilization  of 
the  commercial  possibilities  of  the  Panama  Canal.    These  are,  first,  the  expansion 
of  our  domestic  commerce  by  securing  unrestricted  operation  of  coastwise  inter- 
ocean  transportation  between  our  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coast  ports;  and,  secondly, 
the  utilization  of  our  Panama  property  for  the  development  of  local  commerce  with 
its  adjacent  Latin  American  Republics.     As  to  the  first  item,  the  great  commercial 
advantage  will  lie  in  the  establishment  of  fast  ocean  connection  between  the  Atlantic 
and  Pacific  coasts.    The  more  frequent  and  efficient  the  sailings  the  greater  will 
the  volume  of  traffic  and  the  cheaper  the  cost  of  transportation.    To  msur, 
frequency  and  regularity  throughout  the  year,  so  as  to  move  perishable  crops  as  me; 
mature,  sufficient  business  must  be  found  or  developed  to  keep  the  steamers  on  their 
schedules  while  these  crops  are  in  the  ground;  otherwise  sailings  will  conforr 
to  full  cargo  periods  and  no  other  business  will  benefit  by  water  transportation  via 

CaThe  first  prerequisite  to  that  end,  and  an  item  of  the  utmost  imPortance  to 
the  other  class  of  commerce  referred  to,  is  the  .establishment  of  adequate =  modern 
terminals,  including  warehouses  and  dock  facilities  on  a  large  scale. 

93 


minals  are  necessary  at  both  Colon  and  Panama.  Every  ship  entering  the  Canal  from 
either  ocean  will  necessarily  approach  the  entrance  of  the  first  locks  at  a  very  slow 
rate  of  speed;  and  it  will  furthermore  be  impracticable  to  allow  the  ships  to  pass 
through  the  locks  under  their  own  power,  since  a  very  slight  mistake  of  engine- 
room  signals  might  easily  cause  serious  damage.  Every  ship  must,  therefore,  on 
entering  and  leaving  the  Canal  on  either  side  of  the  Isthmus,  come  to  a  full  stop. 
It  is  apparent  that  this  gives  an  opportunity  for  the  transfer  of  cargo,  mail  and 
passengers  with  very  little  delay  to  the  ship,  provided  modern  terminals  are  con- 
structed so  as  to  make  possible  the  rapid  and  efficient  handling  of  a  large  amount 
of* cargo.  The  terminal  facilities  should  be  ample  for  assembling  and  exchanging 
merchandise  of  all  kinds  in  either  large  or  small  quantities,  and  should  provide 
sufficiently  for  warehousing  and  storing  while  in  transit,  and  for  immediate  reship- 
ment  to  points  reached  by  steamers  going  to  all  parts  of  the  world.  With  these 
immense  transfer  exchanges  at  both  entrances  to  the  Canal,  conducted  under 
American  auspices,  the  geographical  proximity  of  our  merchants  will  give  an  oppor- 
tunity for  securing  the  trade  that  will  thus  be  developed  in  transit  through  the 
Panama  Canal.  This  condition  will  create  the  opportunity  necessary  for  the  Amer- 
ican mail  coastwise  steamers  to  supplement  their  cargoes,  both  to  and  from  the 
Canal,  on  each  ocean,  because  with  these  terminal  facilities  at  their  command  the 
immense  foreign  commerce  now  moving  to  Europe  from  Central  and  South  Amer- 
ican countries,  within  transferring  distance  of  the  Canal  Zone,  can  be  diverted  to 
the  United  States  and  the  present  volume  increased  many  fold. 

The  time  will  come  when  Colon  and  Balboa  will  become  the  greatest  trans- 
shipping ports  in  the  world.  One  can  work  out  all  the  various  lines  of  communi- 
cation between  the  countries  of  the  world  that  will  use  the  Canal,  provided  the  tolls 
are  of  such  moderate  cost  as  to  justify  its  use  in  competition  with  the  Suez  and  with 
the  longer  sea  voyages  around  the  Capes.  Ships  on  voyages  from  an  English, 
German  or  French  port  to  the  Orient  will  be  in  a  position  both  to  deliver  and  receive 
cargo  to  or  from  all  South  American  ports  when  this  cargo  can  be  transferred  at 
either  Colon  or  Panama.  The  same  is  true  of  all  the  nearby  ports  of  Central 
America,  and  in  the  same  way  on  voyages  returning  from  the  Orient,  a  distribution 
can  be  made  to  the  ships  trading  between  the  east  coast  of  United  States  and  west 
coast  of  South  America,  and  between  the  west  coast  of  United  States  and  the  east 
coast  of  South  America.  But  to  take  advantage  of  these  conditions  it  is  absolutely 
essential  for  the  country  desiring  to  build  up  this  important  transfer  business  to 
provide  immediately  the  adequate  terminal  facilities  for  the  rapid  transfer  of  cargo ; 
and  these  must  be  supplemented  by  facilities  for  the  rapid  supplying  of  ships  with 
fuel,  both  coal  and  oil. 

I  feel  sure  it  is  the  earnest  wish  of  President  Taft  and  those  associated  with 
him  in  the  construction  of  the  Canal  to  meet  these  essential  requirements.  A  visit 
to  Panama  in  November,  with  this  particular  subject  in  mind,  gave  me  an  oppor- 
tunity to  discuss  the  matter  fully  with  the  engineers  in  charge  of  the  construction 
work  both  at  Panama  and  Colon.  Plans  have  been  made  for  the  most  improved 
terminal  facilities  in  the  way  of  docks;  those  at  Panama  (Balboa)  covering  an  area 
of  4,231,250  square  feet  of  slips  and  a  valuable  wharf  frontage  of  42,000  linear  feet, 
with  a  basin  of  a  water  area  of  12,201,500  square  feet.  This  plan,  arranged  with  a 
view  to  direct  entrance  from  the  Canal  channel  and  with  modern  railroad  facilities, 
makes  possible,  whenever  necessary,  a  rapid  and  economical  transfer  by  rail  as  well 
as  by  vessel  or  barge,  and  provides  ample  facilities.  Plans  have  also  been  made 
for  the  rapid  supply  of  fuel,  either  coal  or  oil,  to  all  vessels  at  Colon.  Large  ware- 
houses will  be  constructed  and  thus  give  to  these  ports  at  all  times  an  opportunity 
for  storage  of  an  enormous  volume  of  transfer  cargo.  Furthermore,  it  is  proposed 
to  provide  cold  storage  facilities  in  order  that  perishable  cargoes,  such  as  fruits  and 
meats,  can  be  satisfactorily  handled. 

Another  necessity  for  which  plans  have  already  been  made  is  a  large  number 
of  light-draught  seagoing  barges  propelled  by  their  own  power.  These  can  be 
economically  operated  up  and  down  the  coasts  in  connection  with  the  American 
coastwise  steamers.  The  use  of  these  barges  will  make  it  possible  to  reach  interior 
trade  centers  where  the  lack  of  suitable  harbors  and  the  insufficient  depth  of  water 
render  it  impracticable  to  operate  the  steamers  of  deeper  draught.  There  is  an 
enormous  business  which  can  be  developed  in  this  way,  at  the  same  time  providing 
facilities  for  both  the  export  and  import  business  of  the  countries  of  Latin  America. 
The  plan  is  thoroughly  practicable  and  is  the  only  one  by  which  the  maximum  devel- 
opment of  these  sections  of  Central  and  South  America  can  be  brought  about.  To 

94 


insure  the  control  of  this  commerce  there  should  be  ships  under  the  nag  of  our  own 
country  to  develop  the  business  and  assist  in  the  establishment  of  banking  facilities 
Insured  bills  of  lading  that  would  be  negotiable  could  be  issued  in  order  to  secure 
to  the  shipper  the  opportunity  to  get  the  advance  of  capital  necessary  to  develop  his 
business. 

Statistical  information  secured  from  the  Pan  American  Union  makes  it  plain 
that  the  opportunities  pointed  out  actually  exist.  Within  easy  water  communication 
of  Colon  and  Balboa,  by  the  method  suggested,  there  are  14,000,000  people,  repre- 
senting $135,000,000  of  commerce  annually;  $60,000,000  of  imports  and  $75,000000 
of  exports.  Of  this  less  than  $9,000,000  was  bought  from  and  less  than  $18,000^000 
shipped  to  the  United  States.  It  is  thus  seen  that  the  extraordinary  condition  exists 
of  these  14,000,000  people  buying  annually  but  64  cents  per  capita  from  the  United 
States  while  spending  $3.58  per  capita  for  similar  commodities  in  other  countries 
which  are  more  remote.  Moreover,  the  figures  show  the  superiority,  as  a  buyer,  of 
the  Latin  American  over  the  Oriental. 

Once  the  facilities  (provided  they  are  rapid  and  economical)  are  made 
available,  experience  shows  that  they  will  be  utilized.  It  has  been  demonstrated 
again  and  again  that  the  United  States  can  manufacture  the  commodities  needed 
for  this  trade  as  cheaply  as  any  nation  in  the  world.  We  are  unquestionably  in  a 
position  second  to  no  other  country  to  produce  all  the  manufactured  goods  that 
South  America  requires;  but  it  must  also  be  said  that  our  manufacturers  and 
exporters  have  still  much  to  learn  about  the  character  of  manufactured  products 
desired  by  our  Latin  American  neighbors,  as  well  as  about  the  packing  of  such 
goods  in  such  a  way  that  they  can  be  readily  and  economically  handled  in  those 
countries  where  the  trade  centers  are  widely  separated  and  the  facilities  for  distri- 
bution are  limited. 

Having  outlined  the  question  of  providing  for  the  proper  facilities  at  Balboa 
and  Colon  and  urged  the  necessity  for  our  manufacturers  to  study  the  needs  and 
requirements  of  the  southern  republics  both  in  the  production  and  preparation  of 
the  various  articles  to  be  shipped  to  them,  it  only  remains  to  point  out  that  it  will 
be  necessary  to  fully  develop  this  business  by  providing  regular  lines  of  steamers 
from  our  east  coast  and  gulf  ports  to  those  countries  farther  south  via  the  Panama 
Canal,  so  that  they  can  also  on  return  voyages  send  to  us  their  many  articles  of 
export.  We  shall  need,  at  a  not  very  distant  day,  large  quantities  of  meat ;  and  this 
I  am  sure  they  can  readily  supply  from  their  enormous  grazing  grounds  in  the 
western  part  of  their  republics,  as  yet  but  partially  developed ;  and  also  many  other 
commodities  not  produced  in  our  country. 

In  this  way  we  can  best  unite  upon  practical  lines  for  the  proper  use  and 
development  of  the  facilities  given  us  by  the  construction  of  the  Panama  Canal,  and 
make  a  bond  of  union  with  our  great  neighbors  of  the  South,  more  potent  than  any 
in  the  world,  by  a  mutually  profitable  exchange  of  commerce.  This,  in  my  opinion, 
will  be  to  all  "The  Practical  Benefit  of  the  Panama  Canal." 

MR.  BOAGE:  I  should  like  to  inquire  whether  it  is  your  opinion  as  a 
result  of  your  information  in  the  Zone,  if  it  would  be  possible  and  feasible  to 
build  a  large  sugar  refinery  in  the  Gatun  Lakes,  so  that  the  lake  could  be  used  as  an 
anchorage  ground  for  the  steamers  coming  in  with  full  cargoes  of  raw  sugar  from 
Buenos  Aires  and  also  Hamburg  and  Cuba,  and  to  have  that  sugar  refined  there 
and  the  ship  reloaded  with  refined  sugar,  and  then  brought  up  on  our  coasts,  the 
idea  being  to  utilize  the  large  water  area  of  the  lake?  It  would  be  quiet  water  for 
the  ships  to  lie  in. 

MR.  BAKER  :  I  am  not  a  sugar  expert  or  a  sugar  refinery  man,  but  it  seems  to 
me  the  enormous  quantity  of  sugar  purchased  in  that  particular  section,  and  the 
United  States  owning  the  Panama  Canal  Zone  absolutely,  that  a  magnificent  lake 
of  fresh  water,  unlimited  power,  without  cost,  going  to  waste,  that  there  certainly 
ought  to  be  an  opportunity  there  for  the  refining  of  sugar  in  the  most  economical 
way.     The  ships  will  have  to  come  through  the  Canal  loaded  with  raw  sugar,  am 
the  same  ships  could  take  the  manufactured  product  and  go  right  on.     I  am  n 
prepared  as  an  expert  to  answer  that  question,  but  it  seems  to  be  a  very  good  oppc 
tunity.     I  discussed  it  with  the  President  of  Panama,  who  is  very  anxious  to  have 
sugar  refinery  in  the  republic ;  but  it  seems  to  me  the  United  States  has  an  oppoi 

7  RT^REV   LUCIEN  LEE  KINSOLVING  of  the  Brazilian  Episcopal  Church :     How 
can  a  manufacturing  company  get  a  hold  of  that  power?    Does  it  have  to  purchase 
from  the  United  States  as  an  owner  of  the  Canal,  no  not? 

95 


MR.  BAKER:  The  United  States  Government  owns  the  power.  I  do  not  know 
whether  any  arrangements  for  selling  that  power  have  been  made.  It  would,  how- 
ever, come  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Isthmian  Canal  Commission. 

I  want  to  say  that  in  a  long  business  experience  I  have  had  a  great  many 
thousand  men  employed  under  me,  but  I  have  never  seen  anything  going  on  like 
that  construction  work  down  there.  I  have  talked  with  shovel  engineers  and  loco- 
motive engineers,  ridden  with  them,  and  every  man  is  simply  doing  the  best  he  can 
for  Colonel  Goethals'  sake. 

Mr.  Baker  here  referred  the  delegates  to  his  evidence  given  before  the  Post- 
offioe  and  Post  Roads  Committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  published  in  the 
Congressional  Record  of  Sixty-first  Congress,  under  title  of  Ocean  Mail  Service, 
No.  6708. 

Mr.  NOEL  of  Peru:  I  would  like  Mr.  Baker  to  just  tell  us  what  he  knows 
about  the  plans  made  by  Japan  to  take  advantage  of  the  Panama  Canal. 

MR.  BAKER:  Well,  what  I  know  is  a  rather  difficult  question  to  answer, 
because  so  much  of  it  is  not  reliable  as  I  would  like  it  to  be;  but  I  have  been 
informed  from  very  reliable  sources — I  have  not  confirmed  it — that  they  fully  intend 
and  have  determined  to  take  advantage,  if  possible,  of  the  development  of  our  own 
trade  on  Japanese  ships  between  United  States  ports  and  South  America,  and  using 
the  Panama  Canal,  ships  which  will  be  heavily  subsidized;  and  in  that  connection 
there  is  no  nation  in  the  world  paying  subsidies  like  Japan  is  today.  They  are 
paying  such  concessions  or  subsidies,  whichever  you  choose  to  call  it,  for  their  ship- 
ping that  it  would  not  pay  us  to  compete  with  it.  They  are  paying  twelve  dollars  a 
day  for  12-knot  ships  from  San  Francisco  to  Yokohama,  which  is  a  little  fortune 
to  the  shipowner,  and  it  would  not  begin  to  pay  us.  We  had  better  let  them  have 
that  trade,  though  it  will  keep  them  in  close  touch  with  the  commerce  in  a  way  that 
Would  be  a  great  benefit  to  them  and  their  export  trade. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Thank  you,  Mr.  Baker,  very  much.  Mr.  F.  B. 
Loomis,  former  Assistant  Secretary  of  State,  former  Minister  to  Venezuela  and 
Commissioner  of  the  United  States  to  several  different  expositions  abroad,  an  expert 
on  these  things,  will  talk  to  us  a  few  minutes  on  the  subject  of  the  Pan  American 
railway.  I  now  have  great  pleasure  in  presenting  Mr.  Loomis. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  FRANCIS  B.  LOOMIS,  FORMER 

ASSISTANT  SECRETARY  OF  STATE 

OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Mr.  LOOMIS  said: 

Mr.  Director  General  and  Gentlemen:  No  one  who  is  not  an  inherent,  irre- 
pressible and  unashamed  optimist,  like  Mr.  Barrett,  would  expect  a  speaker  to  dis- 
cuss a  project  contemplating  the  linking  of  three  continents  by  the  building  of  10,000 
miles  of  railway,  at  a  cost  of  something  like  $500,000,000,  to  discuss  that  adequately 
in  five  minutes. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :    I  am  giving  you  ten. 

MR.  LOOMIS  :  Thank  you.  I  shall  try,  however,  to  confine  my  remarks  to  five 
minutes,  speaking  at  the  rate  of  $100,000,000  a  minute,  the  total  cost  of  the  project 
to  be  $500,000,000. 

The  Pan  American  railway  project  is  an  eminently  practical  one,  and  has 
been  from  the  beginning.  It  was  launched  in  its  present  form  by  Mr.  Elaine  quite 
twenty  years  ago  after  a  thorough  consultation  with  some  of  the  brightest  and  best 
business  and  financial  minds  of  the  world.  Mr.  Elaine  then  appointed  a  committee 
composed  of  A.  J.  Cassatt,  former  president  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railway  system; 
Henry  G.  Davis,  a  practical  railway  builder  and  promoter,  Andrew  Carnegie  and 
R.  C.  Kerns,  another  railroad  man.  There  was  quite  a  large  appropriation  by 
Congress  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  survey  of  a  proposed  inter-continental  railway 
route  which  should  connect  New  Orleans  and  Buenos  Aires  by  rail— one  continuous 
route.  Mr.  Cassatt  selected  a  number  of  the  finest  engineers  in  his  employ.  They 
went  over  this  route  carefully  and  most  painstakingly,  and  then  made  an  elaborate 
and  informing  report,  which  is  a  monument  of  information  and  of  solid  work.  They 
found  that  the  line  would  be  about  10,166  miles  in  length,  and  that  it  would  cost, 
as  I  have  indicated,  something  like  $50,000  a  mile  to  construct — some  places  a  good 
deal  more,  some  places  a  good  deal  less.  The  original  plan  laid  down  by  Mr.  Elaine 
at  the  first  Pan  American  Conference  was  very  widely  discussed  at  that  time  and  for 


some  years  afterwards,  which  was  that  each  country  should  build  largely  through 
its  own  resources,  and,  if  possible,  the  link  or  section  of  the  railway  within  its  own 
borders.  Several  of  the  South  American  Governments  have  set  resolutely  to  work 
and  have  accomplished  a  vast  deal.  Four  years  ago  Mr.  Davis  and  Mr.  Carnegie 
at  their  own  expense,  sent  an  agent  through  South  America  to  visit  all  the  countries 
touched  by  this  supposed  line  and  its  branches  to  see  just  what  the  railroad  situation 
was  at  that  time,  what  had  been  accomplished  and  what  the  immediate  promise  for 
the  future  was.  That  agent  reported,  after  a  long  and  careful  trip  of  observation, 
that  6444  miles  of  this  proposed  line  had  been  constructed,  and  that  there  remained 
3672  miles  only  to  build.  There  can  now  be  continuous  rail  communication  between 
this  city  and  New  York  city  and  the  northern  boundary  of  Guatemala.  From  that 
point  to  the  Canal  Zone  is  about  600  miles,  and  there  would  be  required  a  link,  using 
some  of  the  existing  lines,  about  500  miles  to  complete  communication  with  the 
Panama  Canal  Zone.  This  matter  is  receiving  now,  and  has  been  for  three  years 
past,  very  careful  consideration  from  some  of  the  most  competent  financiers  of  the 
country,  and  I  venture  the  prophecy  that  within  five  or  six  years  the  link  between 
the  northern  boundary  of  Guatemala  and  the  Canal  Zone  will  either  be  completed 
or  well  under  construction.  From  the  Canal  Zone  south  is  a  long  and  difficult 
stretch  of  road,  extending  to  the  southern  corner  of  Peru,  a  distance  of  about  2800 
miles.  In  Bolivia  and  Ecuador  and  Peru  some  construction  is  going  forward, 
which  will  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  reduce  that  link  to  about  2000  miles.  From 
Cuzco,  in  Peru,  south  to  Buenos  Aires,  a  distance  of  about  1900  miles,  lines  are 
constructed  governing  pretty  much  the  whole  distance,  with  the  possible  exception 
of  175  miles. 

So,  you  see,  that  really  very  great  progress  in  a  very  quiet  way  has  been  made. 
There  is  reason  to  believe  that  in  the  course  of  10  or  12  years  these  remaining  links 
will  be  built  either  by  the  Governments  through  whose  territories  they  rim  or  by  a 
large  international  corporation  which  will  build  these  links,  requiring  some  kind  of 
a  working  arrangement  or  control  over  many  parts  of  the  line,  so  that  it  may  be 
operated  as  a  whole,  and  so  that  there  may  be  swift,  practical,  economical  dispatch 
of  goods  and  passengers  from  North  America  and  South  America  or  such  interme- 
diate points  as  may  seem  desirable  as  a  working  proposition.  You  will  recall  what 
our  own  experience  has  been  in  the  building  of  trans-continental  railroads.  You 
know  what  an  impressive  and  salient  work  was  accomplished  by  opening  up  our 
middle  West  and  far  West.  You  recall  the  conditions  that  obtained  before  the 
Pacific  railroads  were  built.  You  remember,  if  your  recollection  goes  back  to  that 
time,  or  if  you  have  an  occasion  to  read  any  books  describing  the  opening  of  the 
Union  and  Central  Pacific  roads,  how  the  workers  were  harassed  by  savages;  how 
the  savages  were  gradually  driven  westward,  northward  and  southward  and  finally 
disposed  of  ;  how  the  desperado  and  the  bad  man  followed  the  savage,  and  the  cow- 
boy followed  the  desperado  into  obscurity;  how  the  reign  of  violence  and  disorder 
and  disloyalty  to  law  was  succeeded  by  a  regime  of  lawfulness  and  good  order 
and  by  abounding  prosperity,  the  like  of  which  the  world  has  never  seen. 

Now,  gentlemen,  this,  as  I  say,  is  a  very  practical  proposition.  The  Pan 
American  railroad  project  has  never  had  any  place  in  the  abode  of  dreams.  If  you 
build  this  road—  I  will  say  through  Central  America  first—  it  will  have  just  the  same 
effect  in  such  of  those  communities  as  happen  to  be  remote  and  somewhat  disorderly 
at  times  as  it  had  in  our  wild  Western  country.  Following  the  railroad  will  come 
business  and  civilization,  and  every  mile  that  is  built  will  make  for  permanent  tran- 
quility  and  prosperity.  The  particular  use  to  you  of  this  railway,  to  those  of  you 
who  want  to  make  investments  in  those  countries,  or  who  want  to  sell  goods  there, 
is  that  it  will  open  up  the  interior  and  take  their  vast,  untold  resources  down  to  the 
ports  on  the  coast,  so  that  they  can  be  sold  and  manufactured  and  shipped  and 
otherwise  disposed  of  to  the  benefit  and  advantage  and  profit  of  mankind. 

If  this  road  is  built,  as  I  firmly  believe  and  have  reason  to  believe  that  i 
will  be    every  man  who  makes  an  investment  in  these  countries  to  the  south  ot  us 
today,  or  within  the  next  year  or  five  years  hence,  will  have  almost  the  same  reaso 
to  believe  that  that  investment  or  business  will  grow  in  value  as  the  men  had  rea 
to  believe  their  investments  would  grow  in  value  who  put  money  into  our  Wes 
country  twenty,  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  ago  along  the  lines  of  the  transcontmei 


aid,  and  I  repeat,  that  is  a  practical  proposition,  and  it  has  always 
had  the  firm  and  energetic  and  cordial  support  of  some  of  the  best  and  stronges 
ar.d  most  sensible  business  and  brilliant  political  minds  in  this  country.  Mr.  E 


97 


as  I  say,  fathered  it ;  President  Harrison  urged  it ;  President  McKinley  was  entirely 
friendly  with  it  and  wished  to  help  it  on ;  President  Roosevelt  was  enthusiastic 
about  it;  President  Taft  has  most  heartily  endorsed  it,  and  Mr.  Knox,  whom  I  had 
the  pleasure  of  hearing  the  other  day,  has  written  most  cordial  words  respecting  it 
Said  he,  "I  am  in  hearty  sympathy  with  the  Pan  American  railway  project,  and  I 
will  be  glad  to  give  such  assistance  as  I  can.  Each  step  towards  its  realization  will 
not  only  directly  increase  trade  between  adjacent  countries,  but  will  also  increase 
mutual  acquaintance  and  knowledge  and  interweaving  of  interests,  which  is  the 
surest  foundation  of  commercial  development  in  each  country,  and  of  good  inter- 
najional  understanding  among  them  all." 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Will  someone  put  a  question  to  Mr.  Loomis 
about  the  Pan  American  railway? 

QUESTION  :  About  the  construction  of  that  section  from  Guatemala  to  the 
Canal  and  the  expense  per  mile. 

MR.  LOOMIS  :  About  $50,000  is  the  estimate  of  the  engineers.  It  has  been 
found  since  that  original  estimate  was  made,  I  believe,  that  certain  portions,  or 
considerable  portions,  of  it  could  be  built  for  less.  So  I  believe  now  the  revised 
estimate  was  a  little  less  than  $45,000,000  for  the  entire  section  of  something  over 
500  miles. 

MR.  ANDERSON  :    Will  there  be  no  branches  in  Brazil  ? 

MR.  LOOMIS  :    Yes,  there  will  be  a  branch  running  into  Brazil. 

MR.  ANDERSON  :    Not  the  main  line. 

MR.  LOOMIS  :  I  think  as  originally  surveyed,  the  main  line  does  not  go  through, 
but  an  important  branch  line  or  auxiliary  line  is  contemplated  as  a  part  of  it.  There 
is  building  in  Brazil  a  transcontinental  line,  which  will,  when  finished,  enable  people 
and  freight  to  pass  from  Pernambuco,  on  the  Atlantic,  via  Rio  to  Valparaiso,  on  the 
Pacific  side.  There  is  a  vast  amount  of  railway  construction  going  on  in  Brazil  and 
also  in  Paraguay — 500  miles  building  there. 

MR.  KRAUSZ  :  Mr.  Loomis,  I  would  like  to  know  what  the  present  railway 
facilities  are  for  reaching  La  Paz,  Bolivia,  from  Bolivian  ports,  or  Puno  from  Lima, 
and  then  going  out  again  to  the  Chilean  way  to  Antofagasta  or  any  other  port.  Is 
there  a  railway  which  is  already  completed  so  far? 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Mr.  Parsons  is  very  familiar  with  the  railway 
conditions  on  the  coast. 

MR.  MARSH  PARSONS,  The  Parsons  Trading  Co.,  New  York :  There  is  a  rail- 
road going  from  Lake  Titicaca,  and  you  go  across  that  with  a  boat  to  Guaqui  and 
go  out  to  Antofagasta  by  rail. 

MR.  LOOMIS:  I  think  I  stated  from  the  northern  end  of  that  lake  to  Buenos 
Aires,  a  distance  of  about  1900  miles,  there  yet  remains  175  miles  to  build  to  make 
continuous  route  from  the  lake  to  Buenos  Aires. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Dr.  Hale  will  read  a  brief  address  of  Minister 
Porras,  and  then  I  want  to  ask  some  questions  about  Panama. 

ADDRESS  OF  THE  MINISTER  FROM  PANAMA, 
DOCTOR  BELISARIO  PORRAS 

Doctor  PORRAS  said : 

Gentlemen:  The  Republic,  of  Panama,  though  one  of  the  smallest  republics 
on  the  American  Continent,  both  in  population  and  area,  is,  nevertheless,  not  the 
least  favored  by  Nature,  not  only  for  its  topographical  location,  which  places  it 
between  the  two  largest  and  most  navigated  oceans  in  the  world,  but  because  of  the 
fertility  and  abundant  irrigation  of  its  soil;  its  majestic  and  virgin  forests  full  of 
inconceivable  wealth  in  all  kinds  of  valuable  woods,  rubber,  ivory  nuts,  resinous  and 
medicinal  or  healing  plants;  its  immense  prairies  suitable  for  cattle  breeding;  its 
many  rich  mines ;  the  presence  of  the  fine  pearls  round  its  islands  and  along  its 
Pacific  coast,  and  the  variety  of  its  climates. 

Due  to  a  great  many  circumstances  which  date  from  the  time  of  the  discovery 
and  conquest  of  its  territory,  this  immense  wealth  of  comparatively  easy  exploitation 
has,  however,  remained  almost  untouched  up  to  the  present,  to  the  prejudice  of  the 
interests  of  the  Panamanians. 

However,  such  a  state  of  things  could  not  be  everlasting.  The  works  now 
carried  on  by  the  great  American  nation  in  the  digging  of  the  Isthmian  Canal ;  our 
new  political  institutions;  the  systematical  spreading  of  public  instruction,  even  in 
the  smallest  villages,  and  our  land  laws,  recently  enacted,  have  decidedly  awakened 

98 


our  people  from  their  slumber  and  thrown  open  to  them  the  wide  gates  of  proeres< 
and  civilization  This  great  change  for  the  better  they  certainly  have  ^p?ecfated 
and  consequently,  every  opportunity  is  availed  of  with  enthusiasm  toward  the 
development  in  all  its  branches  of  the  natural  resources  of  the  country 

To  this  effect  the  Government  has  established  a  national  bank  under  reason- 
able  terms  which  will  help  the  enterprising  men  to  cultivate  the  lands  wkh  profitable 
results  The  Government  is  also  actively  engaged  in  the  construction  of  cart  roads 
to  facilitate  trade  between  the  interior  towns  and  the  ports,  and  has  already  built 
at  the  latter  places  suitable  wharves  to  meet  the  increasing  traffic. 

The  construction  of  a  railroad  from  the  city  of  Panama,  along  the  most 
inhabited  regions  of  ^the  country  ,to  the  city  of  David,  the  capital  of  the  Province 
of  Chinqui,  on  the  Pacific  boundary  with  the  Republic  of  Costa  Rica  is  likewise 
seriously  contemplated  by  the  Government.  Another  railroad  is  soon  to  be  built 
by  a  foreign  syndicate  in  the  Baden  District,  the  richest  of  the  Republic  of  Panama, 
both  in  mines  and  all  kinds  of  valuable  woods. 

The  coastwise  traffic  in  the  country  is  now  served  by  six  comfortable  steamers 
and  other  suitable  craft  of  the  National  Navigation  Company,  a  corporation  which 
has  the  support  of  the  Government  and  is  giving  entire  satisfaction  to  all  concerned. 

The  completion  of  the  railroads  referred  to,  particularly  that  one  which  will 
run  from  Panama  to  Chiriqui,  it  is  hoped,  will  coincide  with  the  opening  to  the 
world  of  the  Isthmian  Canal,  and  these  happy  events  will,  no  doubt,  insure  the 
prosperity  of  our  country,  for  its  natural- and  agricultural  products  will  then  be 
distributed  with  advantage  over  the  markets  of  the  world. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  location  of  the  Republic  of  Panama,  as  it  is,  between 
North  and  South  America,  will  necessarily  turn  that  country  in  the  near  future  into 
a  great  commercial,  agricultural  and  industrial  centre. 

And  inasmuch  as  the  purposes  pursued  by  the  Pan  American  Union  are 
directed  to  the  utmost  development  of  commerce  among  the  American  republics, 
and  the^  conference  which  is  being  held  during  this  week  has  the  sole  view  of 
exchanging  ideas  and  discussing  the  plans  for  improving  present  conditions  in  this 
respect,  I  respectfully  beg  to  submit  the  following  suggestions,  which,  in  my  opinion, 
are  of  vital  importance  for  the  increasing  of  the  existent  commerce  between  the 
United  States  and  the  Republic  of  Panama,  to  wit: 

ist.  The  establishment  of  respectable  banks  in  the  city  of  Panama,  with 
power  to  advance  funds  to  the  farmers  and  other  enterprises  on  long  and  easy  terms. 

2d.  The  reduction  of  the  existing  freight  rates  for  transportation  over  the 
Panama  Railroad  Co.  and  the  steamship  companies  trading  between  the  Republic 
of  Panama  and  the  United  States. 

3d.     The  improvement  of  export  packing. 

4th.  The  extension  of  time  on  credit  transactions,  say  to  five  or  six  months, 
as  against  the  three  months  which  have  been  granted  to  our  merchants  by  the 
American  exporters,  and 

5th.  The  opening  in  the  city  of  Panama  of  a  permanent  exhibition  of  all 
kinds  of  agricultural  implements,  assisted  by  a  competent  personnel  willing  to  teach 
the  intending  purchasers  the  proper  handling  and  care  of  the  same,  as  well  as  any 
other  article  of  American  manufacture  which  might  be  considered  convenient  for 
tropical  countries.  This  exhibition  will  undoubtedly  prove  beneficial  not  only  to  my 
country,  but  to  all  South  and  Central  American  republics,  and  will  also  save  the 
expenditure  and  time  attached  to  the  present  system  of  advertising  by  means  of 
commercial  travelers  and  catalogues. 

I  firmly  believe  that  the  adoption  of  the  foregoing  suggestions  will  greatly 
aid  to  the  development  of  the  present  commercial  conditions  of  the  two  countries, 
and  I,  therefore,  earnestly  recommend  them  to  your  kind  attention. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  That  was  a  very  interesting  paper,  Mr.  Porras. 
Now,  some  questions  in  regard  to  Panama.  Dr.  Hale  will  be  able  to  answer  ques- 
tions, but  I  was  hoping  Mr.  Lindsay  would  be  here. 

QUESTION  :  Will  you  be  good  enough  to  say  briefly  what  effect  the  Panama 
Railroad  will  have  on  the  development  of  the  Republic  after  the  building  of  the 
Canal. 

DR.  HALE  :  In  the  agricultural  sense,  there  will  always  be  a  great  demand  on 
the  Canal  for  what  local  products  can  be  furnished  on  that  slope.  On  the  Pacific 
slope  to  the  west  of  the  Canal  is  a  very,  very  rich  agricultural  district.  Everybody 
who  has  gone  over  there  has  been  astonished  with  the  fertility  of  the  soil  and  the 
moderation  of  the  climate.  It  is  not  at  all  a  tropical  climate  such  as  on  the  east 

99 


•  COSTA.  RICA  • 


UNITtD  STATES 
#3,376,350 


UNITED  KINGDOM 
1 1.119.676 


VAK  AMLKTCA-M  UNI  ox 

Wa*h.D-C. 


coast  where  the  rubber  and  the  banana  plantations  -are..  They  .can,  erov  cotton 
potatoes,  anything,   and  that  will  be  directly   along  -this/  railroad  "a^ict  »&inpt£  ^ 


necessary  supplies  demanded  by  the  Canal  and  by  the  traffic,  and  in  that  way  the 
country  will  be  most  materially  benefited. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  can  say  myself  that  when  I  was  Minister  of 
Panama  I  traveled  a  great  deal  through  the  interior,  and  was  convinced  of  the  oppor- 
tunity presented  for  the  development  of  the  interior  through  railroads  and  transpor- 
tation. There  is  just  as  much  demand  for  railways  in  Panama  as  there  is  in  the 
interior  of  any  of  the  United  States,  and  this  principal  line  from  Panama  to 
David  would  form  a  great  link  in  the  Pan  American  Railway  if  constructed. 

QUESTION  :  Is  there  truck  farming  to  supply  the  boats  and  steamers  which 
pass  through  the  Canal?  . 

DR.  HALE  :.  Most  decidedly.  I  can  say  this,  for  instance,  I  know  an  American 
locomotive  engineer  who  has  bought  several  acres  west  of  the  city  of  Panama.  He 
is  just  as  sure  as  anything  that  within  the  next  five  years  he  can  develop  a  truck 
farm  there  that  is  going  to  pay  50  per  cent,  and  more  on  his  investment—  just  a  little 
farmer,  you  understand.  The  Panama  Isthmian  Canal  Commission  is  paying  today 
five  times  more  for  potatoes  than  they  can  be  grown  for  on  this  fertile  tract,  but  there 
is  nobody  to  grow  them.  The  truck  farmer  who  goes  in  is  going  to  make  a  fortune. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Is  there  another  question  with  regard  to  Panama? 

MR.  GEO.  I.  KING,  of  the  Standard  Steel  Car  Co.,  Middleton,  Pennsylvania: 
What  is  the  average  charge  for  hauling  a  ton  one  mile  on  the  Panama  Railway? 

MR.  KELLIER:  The  through  rate  from  Callao  to  New  York  is  $8  a  ton; 
that  is,  the  Western  line  on  the  Pacific  gets  $5.60;  that  leaves  $2.40  to  be 
divided  for  the  railroads  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean  all  out  of  that,  for  all  classes  of 
freight,  out  of  which  they  have  to  pay  the  cost  of  discharge  of  the  load. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  have  just  had  the  address  of  Dr.  Porras  on 
Panama,  and  the  question  has  been  asked  about  the  railway  construction  in  Panama  — 
what  demand  there  was  for  it  and  what  the  freight  rates  are  on  the  present  Panama 
Railway.  Are  you  familiar  at  all  with  those  subjects? 

MR.  LINDSAY  :    Specifically  the  rates  ?    The  rates  now  won't  obtain. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :   The  charges  per  ton  for  crossing  the  Isthmus. 

MR.  LINDSAY:  No,  they  have  changed  recently,  and  they  will  be  changed 
again  very  shortly.  The  rates  won't  obtain  on  future  traffic,  that  is  certain. 

MR.  FRANK  A.  BRANDA,  President  of  the  Latin  American  Export  Co.  :  If  the 
question  is  in  order,  might  I  ask  why  does  the  rate  on  the  Panama  Railroad  amount 
to  approximately  200  per  cent,  more  than  the  rate  for  carrying  goods  practically  2000 
miles  from  Oregon  to  Portland? 

MR.  LINDSAY:  A  very  old  question.  It  is  a  question  that  has  been  threshed 
out.  I  don't  know  whether  you  have  seen  Mr.  Bristow's  report,  have  you? 

MR.  BRANDA  :  I  have  not. 

MR.  LINDSAY  :  It  is  a  very  lengthy  one,  and  the  whole  question  is  gone  through 
thoroughly.  Why,  it  would  require  longer  than  the  time  we  have  got  before  us  the 
rest  of  the  day  to  tell  you,  but  I  think  you  will  get  in  Mr.  Bristow's  report  a  good 
explanation,  but  the  fact  remains  that  the  cost  will  not  obtain;  those  rates  will  not 
obtain  after  the  Canal  is  opened. 

MR.  BRANDA:  The  point  I  raise  is  this:  With  American  goods  in  South 
America  it  is  absolutely  impossible  to  meet  the  foreign  countries  on  a  large  amount 
of  products.  Germany  or  England  put  goods  in  Panama  for  $2.25  per  ton. 

MR.  LINDSAY:  There  was  an  arrangement  which  was  rather  restrictive 
between  the  shipping  lines  or  steamship  lines  and  the  railroad.  That  arrangement 
has  been  broken,  and  I  may  say  that  there  is  not  any  doubt  that  the  rate  has  been 
decreased.  The  rates  on  the  Panama  Railroad  are  now  considerably  less  than  they 
were  years  ago. 

QUESTION  :     How  much  less  ? 

MR.  LINDSAY  :   Twenty-five  per  cent,  at  least  ;  that  is,  freight  rates.     I  he  pas 
senger  or  personal  baggage  rates  are  not  any  lower. 

MR   BRANDA  •     The  rate  on  cement  from  New  York  to  Colon  is  10  cents  per 
loo  pounds,  practically  40  cents  a  barrel,  and  the  rate  to  Panama  is  30  cents  per  T 
pounds,  or  $1.30  a  barrel,  which  is  the  cost  of  cement;  or,  in  other  words,  it  cos 
80  cents  to  take  a  barrel  of  cement  50  miles  and  40  cents  to  take  it  2000  miles. 

MR.  LINDSAY  :   Yes,  that  is  a  fact,  but  it  is  also  an  assured  fact  that  as  s< 
as  the  Canal  is  open  these  rates  will  come  down. 

101 


MR.  NOEL:  I  would  like  Mr.  Lindsay  to  tell  us  something  about  the  opportu- 
nities for  cattle  interests-  -in  Panama. 

MR.  LINDSAY  .  Frorri*  close  observation  I  know  something  about  cattle  in 
various  parts  of  South  America.  Panama  lands  are  as  good  as  lands  in  Venezuela, 
but  the  transportation  facilities  are  somewhat  against  it  to  the  American  markets. 
I  really  think  Chiriqui  is  the  most  promising  cattle  market  in  the  world.  There  are 
in  the  country  now  perhaps  50,000  head  of  indifferent  cattle,  and  the  lands  would 
support  5,000,000  head. 

Thereupon  at  12.30  o'clock  A.  M.  the  Convention  took  a  recess  until  2  o'clock 
this  afternoon. 

WEDNESDAY  AFTERNOON 

The  Conference  was  called  to  order  at  2.35  o'clock  P.  M.  by  Director 
General  BARRETT. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  have  much  pleasure  in  introducing  Mr.  Bar- 
ranco,  the  Vice  Consul  of  Cuba  in  Washington,  who  has  a  little  paper  to  read  to 
you. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  CESAR  A.  BARRANCO, 
VICE-CONSUL  OF  CUBA 

Mr.  BARRANCO  said: 

Mr.  Director  General,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  Allow  me  to  begin  my  ad- 
dress by  renewing  the  congratulations  that  the  Government  of  Cuba  has  directed 
me  to  extend  to  this  important  conference.  This  cordial  message  I  had  the  honor 
and  pleasure  to  deliver  last  Monday  afternoon  to  the  Honorable  John  Barrett,  the 
indefatigable  Director  General  of  the  Pan  American  Union,  and  to  whose  efforts 
this  great  conference  is  due. 

It  is  time  that  the  twenty-one  republics  that  compose  the  New  World  shall 
realize  the  necessity  and  convenience  of  establishing  the  greatest  possible  exchange 
in  their  respective  products. 

Old  Europe  teaches  us  an  objective  lesson  by  the  immense  advantages  which 
those  countries  derive  from  the  interchange  of  its  products  increasing  year  by  year. 
It  is  true  that  up  to  the  present  time  the  lack  of  transportation  facilities  has  been 
the  greatest  obstacle  in  establishing  closer  commercial  relations  between  the  Latin 
American  republics,  but  now  the  railroads  are  beginning  to  be  here  like  in  Europe, 
ties  of  international  union  with  great  facilities  for  commerce,  and  before  long  the 
communications  by  sea  will  be,  between  us,  more  frequent  and  cheaper  when  the 
Panama  Canal  is  completed,  and  the  gratitude  of  the  whole  world  shall  give  this 
great  country  and  its  people  the  everlasting  glory  of  having  united,  for  the  good  of 
humanity,  the  Atlantic  with  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

It  is  therefore  of  great  importance  that  all  Latin  American  countries  shall 
prepare,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  Panama  Canal  will  soon  be  a  reality,  to  have 
closer  relations  which  will  undoubtedly  come  after  the  two  great  oceans  of  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  are  joined,  and  I  would  take  the  liberty  of  suggesting  that 
before  January,  1915,  the  date  in  which  the  Panama  Canal  will  be  officially  opened, 
another  conference,  such  as  is  being  held  at  present,  should  take  place.  These 
important  and  interesting  conferences  would  in  due  time  bring  the  desired  results 
to  the  happy  idea  of  the  illustrious  and  distinguished  initiator,  Mr.  John  Barrett. 

And  Cuba,  in  whose  name  undeservedly  I  have  the  honor  to  address  you, 
has  the  greatest  and  most  sincere  interest  and  desire  to  extend  its  commercial  rela- 
tions with  her  sister  republics  of  Latin  America,  at  the  same  time  increasing  her 
commerce  with  the  United  States.  Cuba  occupies  in  the  mercantile  statistics  of  this 
great  country  the  third  place  in  the  world,  and  has  before  her  only  England  and 
Germany;  that  is,  Cuba  being  ahead  of  all  other  countries  in  America  in  regard  to 
what  these  countries  export  to  the  United  States  each  year.  And  as  to  the  mer- 
chandise bought  by  other  countries  from  the  United  States  annually,  Cuba  has 
ahead  of  her  only  the  Republic  of  Mexico  and  Canada. 

In  brief,  according  to  the  official  statistics,  Cuba,  during  the  first  nine  months 
of  the  year  1910,  sold  to  the  United  States  merchandise  to  the  value  of  $117,976.065. 
This  amount  has  only  been  excelled  by  England,  which  represents  $202,472,715,  and 
by  Germany  with  $124,846,844.  Cuba  follows,  and  after  comes  France  with  $87,- 
929,460.  But  Cuba  for  the  United  States  in  the  matter  of  richness  of  exportation 
is  the  first  country  of  America. 

102 


In  regard  to  importation,  Cuba  has  bought  from  the  United  States  during 
the  past  year  merchandise  to  the  value  of  $41,594,361,  and  this  amount  has  only  been 
excelled  in  America  by  Canada  and  Mexico. 

^  I  invite  you   therefore,  gentlemen,  to  consider  the  large  field  of  opportunities 
for  business  in  Cuba  which.  she  offers  you,  her  economical  greatness   her  immenl 
natural  resources  and  her  admirable  situation,  backed  up  by  a  verv  orderlv 
liberal  Government. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  sure  we  all  enjoyed  that  paper  very  much 
and  Mr.  Barranco  would  be  very  glad  to  have  you  ask  any  questions  of  him  regarding 


MR.  PROTZMAN  :     I  would  like  to  ask  the  gentleman  from  Porto  Rico  some 
thing  about  the  agricultural  products  there,  and  especially  the  price  of  land? 

MR.  CURT  :  I  might  say  that  sugar,  coffee,  tobacco  and  different  fruits—  trop- 
ical fruits  of  different  kinds  —  are  produced. 

MR.  PROTZMAN  :     What  is  good  tobacco  land  worth? 

MR.  JOSE  MCMENENDEZ,  of  H.  B.  Claflin  Co.,  New  York  :  The  price  of  to- 
bacco lands  in  Porto  Rico  is  about  $200  a  querda,  which  is  about  equal  to  an  acre— 
about  $200  an  acre,  good  tobacco  land. 

MR.  PROTZMAN  :     What  do  the  farmers  get  for  the  tobacco? 

MR.  CURT  :     They  get  about  20  or  30  cents  a  pound. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  We  are  now  to  have  the  pleasure  of  listening  to 
Mr.  Franklin  Johnston,  who  is  a  very  thorough  authority  on  Latin  America.  His 
father  was  a  great  authority,  and  he  has  himself  just  returned  from  a  very  exhaustive 
trip  to  Latin  America,  and  I  am  sure  what  he  has  to  say  will  be  interesting. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  FRANKLIN  JOHNSTON,  EDITOR  OF 
AMERICAN  EXPORTER 

Mr.  JOHNSTON  said: 

I  am  not  really  an  authority.  I  do  not  know  a  great  deal  about  this.  I  only 
know  a  very,  very  little.  In  the  first  place,  I  never  sold  a  dollar's  worth  of  goods 
in  South  America  or  any  place  else  in  the  way  of  merchandise,  and  I  think  you 
ought  to  know  that  before  I  start  in. 

I  made  a  trip  through  Brazil  and  Uruguay,  Argentina,  Chile  and  Peru  about 
four  or  five  months  ago,  and  spent  four  months,  and  I  was  not  selling  goods,  and  I 
was  not  gathering  statistics.  To  tell  you  the  truth,  I  am  in  the  advertising  business, 
and  if  our  advertisers  do  not  sell  goods  they  take  out  their  ads.,  and  once  in  a  while 
we  have  to  go  around  and  see  what  is  going  on.  But  perhaps  I  gathered  a  few  ideas 
there  that  may  be  helpful  to  American  manufacturers  here  who  want  to  do  some  ex- 
port business,  and  it  may  even  help  some  who  are  getting  a  little  business  there  now. 

One  thing  that  struck  me  is  that  there  is  a  good  deal  of  generalization  talked 
about  South  America.  About  the  time  I  got  off  the  steamer  in  New  York  after  I  got 
back  I  was  asked,  "What  is  the  climate  like  in  South  America?"  If  you  look  at  the 
map  there,  it  is  obvious  there  must  be  several  brands  of  climate  in  South  America; 
and  yet  people  want  to  label  the  climate  and  want  to  call  it  "tropical"  "New  Moun- 
tainous," and  label  it  and  make  the  label  stick,  and  it  won't  stick.  There  are  a  dozen 
different  climates  in  Brazil  alone. 

Then  they  want  to  take  trade  conditions  and  label  those.  They  want  to  take 
every  country  and  generalize  on  the  whole.  Conditions  are  not  the  same  in  Buenos 
Aires  as  they  are  in  Guayaquil.  Obviously  they  are  not.  I  judge  people  endeavor  to 
generalize  on  them. 

So,  having  knocked  generalizations,  I  will  hand  out  a  few. 

One  thing  which  struck  me  is  that  the  big  merchants  and  the  little  merchants  of 
South  America  have  realized  that  the  American  manufacturer  is  much  more  anxious 
to  get  business  there  than  he  was,  and  I  believe  that  they  feel  that  this  present  move- 
ment, which  the  American  manufacturers  have  recently  shown  in  relation  to  South 
American  business,  and  for  which  the  South  Americans  have  a  very  good  expression. 
They  call  it  "serious."  If  a  house  in  America  handles  their  foreign  correspondence 
properly  and  tries  to  meet  the  wishes  of  their  customers,  tries  to  stick  to  business, 
they  say  that  is  a  "serious  house  ;"  they  like  to  do  business  with  them.  They  know 
letters  and  cables  will  get  attention,  and  I  think  they  realize  that  the  American  manu- 
facturers' present  interest  is  not  spasmodic,  but  that  it  is  going  to  be  a  permanent 
one,  because  the  economic  conditions  of  the  country  have  changed  very  much. 

103 


If  any  of  you  gentlemen  will  take  the  trouble  to  look  at  the  way  the  exports 
of  raw  materials  and  loose  products  from  this  country  have  dwindled  in  the  last 
twenty  or  twenty-five  years,  and  how  much  the  exports  of  manufactured  goods, 
hardware,  machinery,  furniture — everything  of  that  sort — have  increased,  you  will 
see  why  the  American  manufacturers  are  taking  more  interest  in  export  business  and 
the  way  the  House  of  Representatives  passed  the  Reciprocity  Bill  yesterday,  I  believe, 
is  for  the  same  reason.  We  cannot  export  the  food  products  that  we  used  to  export. 
We  have  to  export  something  else,  and  it  is  manufactured  goods. 
*  Going  out  in  a  steamer,  I  remember  meeting  the  British  Minister  to  one  of  the 
South  American  Republics.  He  patted  me  on  the  back  very  nicely.  He  came  from 
the  same  part  of  Ireland  that  my  father  did,  and  took  an  interest  in  me  for  that  reason, 
perhaps,  and  he  regretted  that  Americans  could  not  sell  goods  in  South  America,  and 
I  wish  that  that  gentleman  was  here  to  look  at  the  blue  patches  on  all  those  charts 
around  there.  I  do  not  see  how  anybody  can  say  that  we  are  not  selling  goods  in 
the  Argentine  Republic,  when  they  show  in  that  little  blue  patch  $43,000,000,  as  against 
$99,000,000  of  the  United  Kingdom. 

We  are  selling  goods  there,  and  if  any  of  you  manufacturers  are  not  selling, 
somebody  else  is,  and  you  better  find  out  who  he  is.  l^e  may  be  a  competitor  right 
around  the  corner. 

We  hear  a  good  deal  about  German  competition  and  British  competition.  That 
is  true.  The  Germans  have  the  greatest  team  work  in  the  world.  They  all  work  in 
together.  The  Germans  have  a  feeling  of  team  work  such  as  we  do  not  have.  There 
is  no  doubt  about  it ;  but,  by  the  way,  I  want  you  all  to  keep  in  mind  that  this  is  all 
generality — because,  in  the  first  place,  the  National  Cash  Register  was  mentioned 
here.  They  have  a  magnificent  business  and  export  method,  but  Mr.  Nixon  could  not 
*sell  Dreadnaughts  in  the  same  way  they  sell  cash  registers,  as  you  cannot  sell  sus- 
penders in  the  same  way.  Every  line  of  business  has  its  own  methods,  I  think.  I 
never  sold  anything,  but  that  is  what  struck  me.  The  British  manufacturer,  I  think, 
undoubtedly  has  the  finest  representation  down  there  of  any  of  the  manufacturing 
interests  as  a  whole.  That  is  another  generality.  People  like  to  do  business  with  the 
British.  The  word  of  the  Englishman  is  a  saying  all  around  the  world,  and  American 
manufacturers  have  not  always  been  as  careful  to  maintain  the  reputation  of  their 
country  as  the  English  almost  invariably  have.  You  may  say  that  the  English  sell 
their  goods  chiefly  on  quality,  the  Germans  on  price  and  the  Americans  because  of 
American  inventive  genius  and  wholesale  methods  of  manufacture.  I  remember 
meeting  a  man  who  was  selling  threshing  machines.  One  big  English  concern  sold 
$500,000;  that  is,  his  agents  did,  in  the  Argentine  Republic  last  year,  and  he  was  talk- 
ing about  some  of  his  American  competitors,  and  it  was  startling  to  see  that  he  ad- 
mitted the  number  of  threshing  machines,  traction  engines  and  so  on  that  they  turned 
out  where  he  would  turn  out  one.  I  d(5n't  know  what  the  figures  were,  but  it  told  the 
whole  story.  The  British  machines,  for  instance,  are  very  reliable,  but  they  are 
heavier  than  the  American  machines,  as  a  rule,  and  in  some  cases  there  is  a  reaction 
against  the  cumbersomeness  of  the  English  machinery. 

As  regards  this  generality  business,  that  works  both  ways,  and  I  found  a  good 
many  merchants  who  had  had  experiences  with  one  manufacturer  or  the  other,  and 
they  promptly  condemned  the  whole  United  States  of  America  from  start  to  finish. 
So  you  will  see  that  if  you  are  not  seriously  inclined  toward  the  export  business  you 
ought  to  leave  it  alone,  because  you  are  going  to  irritate  somebody  and  he  is  going  to 
take  it  out  on  the  whole  country. 

About  the  ships,  I  remember  this  British  Minister  I  spoke  of  said  that  we  could 
not  sell  goods  without  American  steamers.  How  is  it  we  sell  them  ?  That  is  what  1 
want  to  know.  I  do  not  know  anything  about  the  shipping  business,  but  how  is  it 
that  we  do  sell  them? 

About  catalogues,  a  great  deal  has  been  said  about  Spanish  catalogues.  I  be- 
lieve there  are  thousands  of  American  manufacturers  who  get  out  their  catalogues  in 
Spanish,  and  I  think  it  is  a  very  gratifying  feature  of  this  Conference,  so  far,  that 
there  has  been  very  little  said,  as  there  used  to  be  in  the  gatherings  of  this  sort,  about 
packing  right,  printing  catalogues  and  so  on,  the  kindergarten  advice  of  the  export 
business ;  they  have  been  absent  from  this  meeting,  and  I  think  that  shows  very  con- 
clusively that  the  American  manufacturers  are  gaining  ground ;  and  I  will  say  that  on 
my  trip  I  found  very  little  talk  of  that  sort  about  that  bad  packing,  and  so  forth.  Of 
course,  I  encountered  it  now  and  then,  but  it  was  not  the  general  cry  as  it  was  a  few 
years  ago. 

104 


It  is  usually  taken  for  granted  that  if  a  man  is  German  he  will  have  German 
goods  down  there  and  cut  put  America.  But  I  found  that  that  was  not  true.  I  know 
of  one  case  of  a  man  in  Rio  de  Janeiro,  a  German  by  birth  and  education,  who  sent 
to  New  York  because  he  said  he  could  not  get  the  service  from  the  German  manu- 
facturers that  he  now  can  from  the  Americans.  Of  course,  he  has  recently  started  in 
business,  and  many  of  the  finest  German  manufacturers  have  other  connections. 

In  the  same  city  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  there  is  an  American  by  birth  who  keeps  a 
scrap  book  of  the  foolish  letters  he  gets  from  the  American  manufacturers,  and  he  is 
an  American,  and  the  English  are  very  apt  to  criticise  the  English  manufacturers,  and 
so  it  goes.  They  decide  that  patriotism  does  not  go  beyond  the  pocketbook  in  most 
instances,  I  find. 

Something  was  said  about  the  licenses  for  travelers,  and  I  would  like  to  say  a. 
word  there.  I  never  followed  that  very  closely.  I  have  heard  of  one  or  two  men  who 
have  gotten  into  trouble  for  not  paying  their  licenses,  but  it  is  my  impression  that,  as 
a  rule,  where  your  salesmen  are  down  there  working  in  connection  with  your  agents, 
they  will  be  allowed  to  canvass,  so  to  speak,  under  the  license  of  your  agent  there ;  and 
therefore  that  fee  is  not  by  any  means  always  necessary. 

Buenos  Aires  is  not  Guayaquil,  as  I  said  before,  arid  I  only  mention  those  two 
cities,  trying  to  show  that  there  are  degrees  of  development  in  the  different  parts  of 
Latin  America,  as  there  are  in  North  America.  In  Buenos  Aires,  for  instance,  there 
are  two  English  daily  papers ;  that  gives  you  a  good  idea  of  the  development  of  that 
city. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  don't  want  to  shorten  Mr.  Johnston's  address, 
but,  of  course,  you  all  understand  that  situation  fully — the  same  chance  is  open  to  all 
of  you,  and  we  develop  special  features  by  asking  questions.  Now,  I  would  like  to 
have  anyone  ask  Mr.  Johnston  any  questions.  You  can  see  that  he  has  a  very  prac- 
tical knowledge  of  things. 

MR.  E.  FEIGE,  of  the  Feige  Desk  Co.,  Saginaw,  Mich. :  I  would  like  to  ask 
Mr.  Johnston  what  he  knows  about  the  tariff  in  Brazil. 

MR.  JOHNSTON  :  I  don't  know  much  about  the  tariff  in  Brazil.  I  know  that 
there  is  a  differential  in  our  favor  on  some  10  or  15  lines.  I  do  not  recall  what  they  arc. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :     Those  figures  can  all  be  obtained  for  you. 

MR.  JOHNSTON  :     I  know  the  tariff  on  some  articles — 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  We  can  provide  you  here  with  all  that  informa- 
tion if  you  will  just  write  it  down  on  a  piece  of  paper. 

MR.  FEIGE:  It  is  almost  prohibitive  for  business  in  Brazil.  On  furniture, 
especially  roll-top  desks,  there  is  a  duty  of  200  per  cent,  and  hardware  and  such 
things ;  door  trimmings,  as  high  as  600  per  cent.  I  would  like  to  know  how  that  is 
to  be  overcome  to  enable  anyone  to  do  business  in  Brazil. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  Is  there  anyone  here  from  Brazil  that  can  answer 
that  question? 

MR.  RAPOSO  :  Let  me  explain.  A  country  like  Brazil  has  a  necessity  of  looking 
after  its  revenue  mostly  from  its  customs  houses,  but  you  must  remember  that  the 
percentage  that  you  have  to  pay,  your  competitors  have  to  pay  also,  and  in  that  in- 
stance you  have  a  reduction  of  20  per  cent.  You  must  not  be  scared  from  going  into 
Brazil  for  your  goods,  especially  a  good  line  like  hardware.  It  is  true  it  is  high,  but 
it  has  to  be  high ;  but  it  is  not  prohibitive,  as  you  say,  to  any  extent. 

MR.  FEIGE:  I  have  an  invoice  of  certain  desks  and  chairs  bought  in  New 
York.  The  total  price  of  the  chairs  was  $387,  and  the  duty  paid  on  them  was 
$655. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  Is  it  all  right  to  submit  that  to  go  into  the  record 
as  your  statement? 

MR.  RAPOSO  :  That  particular  instance,  it  was  the  fault  of  your  agent  making 
a  faulty  declaration.  He  was  not  a  competent  man.  It  is  a  question  of  classification. 

MR.  EASTON  :  I  would  like  to  ask  Mr.  Johnston  a  question  or  two.  How  did 
you  go,  by  way  of  England  or  down  ? 

MR.  JOHNSTON  :     I  went  by  way  of  England. 

MR.  EASTON  :     Have  you  used  the  Lamport  &  Holt  line? 

MR.  JOHNSTON  :     No,  I  have  not;  but  I  know  that  the  Lamport  &  Holt  are 
coming  more  popular.    The  service  is  first-class  on  that  line  today.     I  do  not  know 
from  personal  experience,  but  I  know  a  great  many  business  men  living  in  R 
use  the  direct  steamers,  as  it  is  quicker. 

MR  EASTON  :  Just  one  question,  for  the  benefit  of  the  gentleman  a  few  min- 
utes ago  speaking  of  the  Lamport  &  Holt  line.  The  daily  reports  published 

105 


Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor  some  day  last  month — there  will  be  no  trouble 
about  finding  out  the  date  through  that  department — published  an  extensive  pamphlet 
on  the  services  of  the  Lamport  &  Holt,  comparing  it  to  the  English  line,  and  it  would 
be  valuable  to  anybody  wishing  to  look  up  the  service  on  that  line. 

DIRECIOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  want  to  call  on  a  gentleman  who  is  to  leave 
in  a  few  minutes  for  just  a  few  words  before  we  call  on  Mr.  Eder  of  Colombia,  to 
read  some  extracts  from  a  paper  prepared  by  the  Minister  from  Colombia.  Dr.  Guerra 
is  the  export  manager  of  Sharp  &  Dohme,  a  large  drug  house  of  Baltimore  and 
New  York.  There  have  been  a  good  many  calls  for  him  on  the  drug  business,  and 
I  Nvant  to  ask  him  to  say  just  a  word  before  he  goes  away. 

REMARKS  OF  DOCTOR  A.  DIAZ  GUERRA 

Dr.  GUERRA  said : 

My  object  on  this  occasion  is  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Pan  American 
Conference  to  the  matter  of  sampling.  I  am  connected  with  one  of  the  largest 
houses  in  this  country  dealing  in  pharmaceutical  products,  and  we  are  handicapped, 
because  if  we  are  going  to  send  samples  to  any  one  of  those  countries,  we  have  to 
pay  very  heavy  duties  for  those  samples,  which  have  no  commercial  value  what- 
soever, and  it  seems  to  me,  as  it  must  seem  to  everybody  here,  that  those  sam- 
ples should  pass  through  the  custom  houses  in  the  Latin  American  countries  with- 
out paying  those  heavy  duties.  We  want  to  establish  a  demand  for  our  prod- 
ucts— I  mean  for  the  United  States  products,  and  the  only  way  to  establish  that  de- 
mand is  by  showing  our  people  what  we  can  produce;  but  we  cannot  afford  to  pay 
hundreds  and  hundreds  of  dollars  for  a  sample  of  the  material  that  is  worth  only  a 
few  pennies,  which  has  no  commercial  value  at  all.  The  last  experience  my  house  had 
was  in  Central  America.  We  sent  four  cases  of  samples.  The  value  of  those  cases 
was  not  more  than  $25  or  $30,  and  we  had  to  pay  $357  customs  house  duty  for  them. 
If  we  could  pass  samples  through  and  distribute  them  among  the  people,  I  think  that 
the  Governments  which  are  interested  in  collecting  those  customs  house  duties  would 
be  very  glad  to  have  samples  distributed,  a  market  established  for  the  goods,  and  then 
collect  the  ordinary  customs  house  duties  for  the  goods  themselves.  That  is  only  an 
idea  I  want  to  suggest,  and  I  leave  to  everybody  the  possibility  of  finding  some  way 
by  which  we  can  distribute  samples  without  being  compelled  to  pay  such  an  amount 
of  money  for  them.  That  is  the  only  object  I  want  to  present  here. 

MR.  CAS  WELL  A.  MAYO,  Editor  of  the  Revista  Americana  de  F  armada  y  Med'r 
cina,  of  New  York :  May  I  speak  on  this  question  of  samples  ?  None  of  the  tariffs 
of  which  I  am  familiar,  and  I  have  made  some  research  into  the  matter,  make  any 
provisions  for  the  introduction  of  samples  which  must  necessarily  be  consumed  by  the 
recipient,  except  in  the  matter  of  wine.  In  some  countries  sample  bottles  of  wine 
of  no  greater  capacity  than  one  pint  are  admitted  free,  a  recognition  of  the  fact  that 
the  sample  must  be  consumed  in  order  to  judge  its  quality.  There  is  a  need,  in  the 
exchange  of  commercial  relations,  in  building  up  commercial  relations  with  the  pro- 
vision of  samples  of  this  kind  so  as  to  include  food  products — which  would  include 
wine — pharmaceutical  products  and  cosmetic  products,  and  it  does  seem  to  me  the 
part  of  wisdom,  from  purely  financial  point  of  view,  for  any  Government  to  welcome 
the  admission  of  samples  for  free  distribution  under  proper  regulations,  with  the  idea 
that  the  establishment  of  a  trade  that  would  yield  the  Government  very  much  larger 
returns  on  the  revenues  from  the  regular  sizes  than  could  possibly  be  gotten  any 
other  way,  and  that  is  on  the  supposition  that  the  Governments  wi.sh  to  foster  inter- 
national trade  in  these  proprietary  preparations,  whether  foods,  medicines,  cosmetics 
or  what  not,  and  that  was  the  idea  that  I  think  is  quite  an  important  one  and  well 
worthy  of  our  consideration  if  it  is  within  our  province  to  consider. 

MR.  EDER:  The  Colombian  Minister  has  done  me  the  signal  and  unmerited 
honor  of  explaining  to  you  why  he  feels  he  cannot  address  the  audience  in  person,  as 
he  otherwise  would  like  to.  This  is  in  the  form  of  a  letter  addressed  to  Mr.  John  Bar- 
rett. I  will  proceed  to  read. 


106 


COMMUNICATION   FROM  THE  MINISTER  FROM  COLOMBIA, 
MR.  FRANCISCO  DE  P.  BORDA 

(Read  by  Mr.  Phanor  J.  Eder) 

Seldom  has  there  been  gathered  together  in  the  United  States,  an  audience 
as  brilliant  as  this  one  which  has  come  to  this  temple  of  peace  to  take  count 
of  one  of  the  most  transcendental  events  of  history;  that  is,  the  change  which 
is  taking  place  from  political  imperialism,  the  basis  of  modern  civilization  And 
this  change  is  occurring,  because  such  is  the  will  of  the  sons  of  Washington 
and  Franklin.  The  flag  of  the  Great  Republic  can  wave  only  over  fundamental 
moralities  of  civilization.  To  address  such  an  audience  would  therefore  be  an 
honor  and  a  cause  for  pride,  and  I  regret  that  I  cannot  do  so. 

Others,  however,  will  tell  you  that  the  436,000  square  miles  which  form  the 
territory  of  Colombia  situated  between  the  two  great  oceans,  are  peopled  by  6,000,000 
inhabitants,  and  are  blessed  by  Providence  with  all  the  products  which  Nature  in 
her  prodigality  showers  upon  man  for  his  needs  and  luxury  and  glory ;  that  Colom- 
bia's climate,  from  a  thermometric  scale  ranging  from  40  to  80  Fahrenheit,  pro- 
tecting man  against  all  diseases;  that  its  rivers  bathe  this  territory  for  over  20000 
miles  of  navigable  length;  that  it  forms  a  part  of  the  greatest  river  system  of 'the 
world,  and  that  a  traveler  can  embark  at  Humadea  near  Bogota,  descend  by  the 
Meta  to  the  Orinoco,  ascend  the  Orinoco  t.o  the  Casiquiare,  and  thence  reach  the 
Rio  Negro,  whose  currents  will  bear  him  to  the  Amazon ;  in  Brazilian  territory  our 
traveler  can  choose  the  Madeira  and  going  to  the  Guapare  and  the  head  waters  of 
the  Paraguay,  descend  that  river  to  the  Parana  and  reach  Buenos  Aires;  or  he  can 
ascend  the  Beni  and  reach  La  Paz  in  Bolivia ;  or  choose  the  Ucayali  and  arrive  near 
Lima  in  Peru,  or  by  the  Napo  arrive  at  the  Rio  de  la  Costa  and  enter  the  heart  of 
Ecuador,  or  else  return  to  the  eastern  part  of  Colombia  by  the  Caqueta  or  Putumayo. 

Others  will  also  tell  you  that  Colombia  owns  a  great  part  of  the  great  South 
American  forest  region,  17,000  square  leagues  in  area ;  that  its  mountains,  the  oldest 
in  the  world,  wherein  are  found  radium  and  platinum  and  its  rich  and  fertile  valleys, 
and  its  plains  covered  with  endless  pasture,  contain  nearly  all  the  products  of  three 
kingdoms  of  nature;  more  gold  and  silver  than  man  has  yet  possessed  (in  four  cen- 
turies $1,000,000,000  has  been  mined),  all  the  iron  and  copper  required  by  the  indus- 
try of  the  entire  world,  lead,  mercury,  tin,  zinc,  other  minerals  and  precious  stones. 

Mr.  Barrett,  who  took  pains  to  inform  himself  as  to  the  coal  deposits  of 
Colombia  in  his  interesting  pamphlets,  says  that  Colombia  could  furnish  for  many 
centuries  coal  for  the  entire  continent.  The  emerald  mines  are  the  only  ones  in 
the  world  and  are  inexhaustible. 

Others  will  explain  to  you  how  Colombia  has  become  the  center  for  the 
American  fauna  and  flora.  "The  inhabitant  of  these  regions,"  says  Baron  Hum- 
boldt,  "is  acquainted  with  all  vegetal  forms  which  nature  has  placed  in  his  favored 
country  and  displays  to  his  eyes  a  spectacle  as  varied  as  that  of  the  celestial  vault 
when  there  is  no  constellation  hidden  from  view." 

Rubber  in  inexhaustible  quantities,  cinchona,  tobacco,  vanilla,  sugar  cane, 
bananas,  coffee,  cotton,  corn,  beans,  potatoes  and  wheat  and  a  thousand  vegetable 
fibers  and  medicinal  plants.  A  Colombian  forest  is  an  inexhaustible  source  of 
wealth,  free  to  the  first  comer.  The  list  of  products  of  its  forests  is  practically 
inexhaustible,  as  is  that  of  its  fruits,  and  especially  its  woods.  In  the  Colombian 
Legation  we  have  a  still  incomplete  classification  of  over  loop  species  of  building 
and  cabinet  woods,  from  the  proud  tree  of  Darien,  which  carries  the  flags  of  great 
vessels  the  world  over,  to  the  fibrous  slender  limoncillo;  from  the  iron-like  guay 
acan  to  the  carey  and  vegetable  ivory,  these  woods  form,  with  raw  metals  and 
precious  stones,  a  mass  of  wealth  which,  at  no  late  day,  will  minister  to  the  comfort 
and  awake  the  admiration  of  mankind. 

You  will  also  be  told  that  its  greatest  source  of  wealth,  which  offers  t 
most  encouraging  stimulus  to  progress,  is  the  infinite  quantity  of  power  in  its 
thousand  waterfalls,  from  the  imposing  Tequendama,  three  times  the  height  of 
Niagara,  to  the  formidable  current  of  many  of  its  rivers.  Colombia  can  produce 
more  electricity  than  the  engineer  needs  in  order  to  accomplish  what  Archimedes 
could  not  do. 

This  and  much  more  will  be  told  you  here  by  the  sons  and  friends  of  Colombia 
and  admitted  even  by  its  enemies,  if  it  have  any.    I  am  the  only  one  who  cam 
tell  you  this,  and  for  this  reason. 

107 


The  Interoceanic  Canal  is  about  to  effect  a  change  in  the  conditions  of  the 
world.  At  its  opening  the  United  States  will  occupy  the  position  of  the  foremost 
nation  of  the  world  and  the  majesty  of  the  great  Republic  remain  forever  firmly 
established;  mistress  of  the  strategical  venture  of  the  world,  her  boundaries,  for 
commercial  and  military  purposes,  will  stretch  from  Panama  to  California  and 
Alaska,  from  Alaska  to  Maine  and  from  Maine  to  the  Philippines,  and  from  the 
Philippines  back  to  Panama.  The  force  and  power  of  the  world  is  dislocated  and 
concentrated  in  the  Canal. 

The  exceptional  and  delicate  situation  in  which  the  Legation  of  Colombia 
finds  herself,  for  reasons  well  known  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  and  which 
awakens  their  sympathy,  obliges  me  to  decline  the  honor  of  taking  part  in  public 
deliberations.  The  Legation,  nevertheless,  is  always  open  to  the  people  of  the  sister 
republic,  for  whom  she  will  always  maintain  her  admiration  and  her  historical 
friendship.  There  can  be  found  all  the  data  which  the  labor  and  capital  of  the 
United  States  may  seek.  The  possibilities  for  the  investment  of  capital  in  Colombia 
are  therefore  to  be  found  in  the  exploitation  of  its  soil  and  forests,  in  the  improve- 
ment of  its  ports,  the  navigation  of  its  rivers,  the  construction  of  railroads,  the 
establishment  of  mortgage  banks ;  Colombia  will  be  the  great  source  of  supply  for 
the  Canal;  every  man  and  every  ship  passing  through  the  Canal  will  consume 
Colombian  products,  which  are  inexhaustible. 

Finally,  it  is  a  pleasure  to  declare  on  this  solemn  occasion  and  in  the  presence 
of  this  influential  and  sympathetic  audience  that  I,  as  the  representative  of  Colombia, 
have  had  the  most  cordial  reception  from  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and 
have  found  and  am  assured  of  ever  finding  the  highest  and  noblest  spirit  of  justice. 
Upon  pressing  the  hand  of  the  President  today  I  received  the  same  impression  as 
I  did  fifty  years  ago  when  I  met  that  sublime  man,  the  equal  of  the  patriarchs  of 
the  Bible,  who  placed  the  seal  of  your  nation's  greatness  by  liberating  4,000,000  men — 
Abraham  Lincoln. 

You,  Mr.  Barrett,  who  are,  as  the  old  Romans  would  have  said,  the  Praetor 
Peregrinus  of  the  Latin  Americans  in  this  country,  will  be  able  to  make  my  excuses 
to  this  great  congress  of  the  capital  and  labor  of  the. United  States  which  you  have 
gathered  together.  Please,  therefore,  receive  my  thanks. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Following  that  very  interesting  summary  and 
statement,  I  would  state  that  Mr.  Eder  is  familiar  with  Colombia,  and  also  Mr. 
Martin.  Mr.  Martin  made  a  journey  of  two  thousand  miles  along  the  ranges  of 
the  Andes  and  Ecuador  with  me,  and  as  we  came  out  of  it  better  friends  than  we 
started,  he  is  a  pretty  good  fellow.  Mr.  Martin,  come  forward,  so  we  can  have  a 
little  practice  between  you  and  Mr.  Eder,  answering  questions. 

MR.  EDER:  I  would  like  to  say  first,  as  I  have  been  introduced  here  as  from 
Colombia — and  I  am  very  proud  of  that — I  also  have  a  place  of  business  in  New 
York,  where  I  would  be  pleased  to  meet  the  delegates,  at  180  Williams  street,  where 
I  will  be  glad  to  give  them  any  assistance  possible  at  any  time. 

MR.  WICKWIRE:  I  would  like  to  know  if  there  is  any  power  transmission 
developed  in  Colombia  or  in  prospect  there. 

MR.  EDER:  There  are  several  electrical  plants,  which,  however,  are  more 
for  the  purpose  of  electric  light  than  for  electric  power,  but  there  is  no  reason  why 
the  electric  power  transmission  could  not  be  developed.  The  plants  I  speak  of  as 
notable  instances  are  those  near  Bogota  and  one  or  two  others  at  Cartagena,  and  I 
think  a  good  one  has  just  been  established  in  Barranquilla.  My  brother,  Edward 
Mason,  is  building  the  railroad  down  there,  and  is  known  to  a  good  many  of  you, 
and  he  is  at  the  head  of  that  last  one. 

QUESTION:    Does  that  power  come  from  coal  or  water? 

MR.  EDER:  From  water.  There  is  coal,  but  there  is  no  need  to  use  it.  There 
is  hardly  any  part  of  Colombia  where  you  cannot  get  excellent  hydraulic  power. 

MR.  MANNING  :  There  are  plants  down  on  the  coast.  There  is  an  electric 
plant  at  Cartagena  and  one  at  Barranquilla  and  one  at  Santa  Marta  that  are  fuel 
plants. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Mr.  Manning  was  consul  at  Cartagena  for  some 
time  and  is  very  well  informed. 

MR.  FRANK  X.  KREITLER.  Collins,  Darrah  &  Co.  of  Nebraska,  Pennsylvania: 
You  spoke  about  the  forests.  What  kind  of  timber  is  there? 

MR.  EDER:  In  the  Cauca  Valley  region  they  are  exporting  a  good  deal  of 
mahogany  and  other  cabinet  woods.  From  the  Pacific  coast  the  chief  export  is  the 
quebracho,  which  is  known  as  one  of  the  most  valuable  woods  for  railroad  ties  in 

108 


the  world,  and  is  very  durable,  and  it  goes  chiefly  to  Peru,  on  the  west  coast  I  do 
not  think  there  is  any  building  timber  shipped  out.  There  are  several  projects 
along  the  Magdalena,  and  one  or  two  sawmills  have  been  established,  but  I  don't 
think  any  timber  is  being  exported  for  building  purposes. 

MR.  CURT:  To  what  extent  are  electrical  signs  used  in  Colombia? 

MR.  EDER  :  Practically  none. 

MR.  MAHLON  C  MARTIN,  JR.,  of  Glen  Ridge,  N.  J. :  There  are  very  few  in 
Bogota;  they  are  just  beginning  to  use  electrical  signs  there. 

MR.  GUMPERT:     Have  you  any  wholesale  grocers? 

MR.  EDER:  There  are  wholesale  grocers  in  every  large  city. 

MR.  GUMPERT:  Are  you  posted  as  to  whether  there  are  regular  country  stores 
which  handle  everything,  or  just  groceries? 

MR.  EDER:  No,  there  are  quite  a  few  men  who  make  a  specialty  of  groceries 
wholesale,  who  are  very  big  people,  in  the  large  coast  towns.  The  large  ports  are 
practically  warehouses  for  the  interior,  and  several  do  practically  an  exclusive  whole- 
sale business. 

MR.  GUMPERT  :  Do  those  wholesale  grocers  import  their  canned  goods  or  are 
they  obtained  locally? 

MR.  EDER:  Well,  there  are  no  canning  establishments  in  the  country;  all  the 
canned  goods  are  imported. 

MR.  JOHN  K.  BRODERICK,  Broderick  &  Bascom  Rope  Co.  of  St.  Louis:  I  would 
like  to  know  as  to  whether  the  coal  deposits  there  are  slope  formation  or  whether 
they  are  mining  shafts,  and  how  extensively  they  are  being  worked. 

MR.  EDER:  They  are  being  worked  on  a  very  small  scale  only — practically 
open  mining,  except  near  Bogota,  where  they  are  worked  on  quite  an  extensive 
scale. 

MR.  BRODERICK:  Do  they  use  American  machinery  to  get  it  out? 

MR.  EDER  :  I  do  not  know. 

MR.  MARTIN  :  Mining  machinery  is  not  used  in  mining  coal  in  Colombia  at  all. 

MR.  MANNING :  Along  the  headw-aters  of  the  Sinn  River  in  Northern  Colom- 
bia, to  the  westward  of  Cartagena,  there  are  immense  beds  of  coal  which  are  abso- 
lutely unexplored  and  unexploited,  but  I  saw  some  time  ago,  while  in  Cartagena, 
a  report  of  a  practical  mining  engineer  gotten  out  as  long  ago  as  1846  on  these  coal 
deposits,  in  which  he  said  they  were  as  extensive,  in  his  opinion,  as  the  coal  deposits 
of  Western  Pennsylvania,  and  he  examined  the  coal  and  found  it  to  be  a  very  high 
character  of  steam  coal,  but  no  one  has  ever  felt  it  worth  the  while  to  investigate  it. 

MR.  EDER  :  I  can  say  the  same  things  about  the  coal  mines  at  Cali,  beyond  the 
first  range  of  the  Andes,  between  the  eastern  and  the  central  Cordilleras.  The 
whole  outcroppings  are  worked  on  a  very  small  scale,  but  coal  beds  are  believed 
to  be  of  very  vast  extent,  and  to  extend  almost  through. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  We  will  have  to  end  this  discussion,  and  remem- 
ber that  Mr.  Eder  and  Mr.  Martin  will  be  very  glad  to  answer  any  questions  about 
Colombia  at  any  time. 

I  now  have  particular  pleasure  in  calling  on  Prof.  William  R.  Shepherd.  I 
want  to  say  of  Dr.  Shepherd  that  he  has  made  several  trips  through  South  America 
and  other  parts  of  Latin  America,  that  he  was  a  member  of  the  delegation  to  the 
Scientific  Congress  in  Santiago,  Secretary  of  the  United  States  Delegation  to  the 
Conference  in  Buenos  Aires,  and  is  a  recognized  authority  on  Latin  America. 

ADDRESS  OF  PROF.  WILLIAM  R.  SHEPHERD,  OF  COLUMBIA 

UNIVERSITY,  SECRETARY  UNITED  STATES 

DELEGATION  TO  FOURTH  PAN 

AMERICAN  CONFERENCE 

Prof.  SHEPHERD  said: 

Mr.  Director  General  and  Gentlemen:  The  topic  with  which  I  propose  to  deal 
in  a  very  hurried  fashion  is  the  personal  element  in  our  trade  with  Latin  America. 

In  the  first  place  I  might  say  there  still  linger  in  the  United  States,  although 
in  a  constantly  decreasing  degree,  certain  prejudices  and  certain  prepossessions  oi 
which  we  must  rid  ourselves.  The  first  phase  of  the  personal  element  is  that  which 
has  to  do  with  the  attitude  of  mind.  Now,  what  are  the  still  lingering  prejudices 
and  prepossessions?  In  the  first  place,  that  South  America— and  I  speak  of  that 
more  especially— is  a  sort  of  Eldorado,  where  you  may  get  anything  you 

109 


,  15B,6"5Q 


UNITED  STATES 
*  109,4,07,613 


simply  scratching  the  ground  or  shaking  the  trees.  Secondly  that  unless  we  secure 
an  immediate  monopoly  of  the  trade  of  South  America,  or  at  least  an  immediate 
share  in  the  major  part  thereof,  all  the  perils  and  troubles  of  the  litany  are  nothing 
in  comparison.  Third,  that  when  we  want  South  American  trade  we  can  easily  get 
it.  That  is  a  phase  of  what  we  may  call  smug  complacency.  Fourth  that  the 
American  way  of  doing  business  is  necessarily  and  absolutely  the  best,  and  that  the 
American  article  is  also  the  best  and  spontaneously  commends  itself  wherever  it 
goes,  and  along  with  that  the  same  idea  that  if  the  South  American  merchants 
really  want  our  trade,  all  we  have  to  do  is  to  come  up  and  ask  for  it.  They  won't 
And,  finally,  in  that  respect  that  anything  is  good  enough  for  South  America.  Mind 
you,  I  am  saying  these  prejudices  and  prepossessions  are  steadily  decreasing,  but 
they  still  exist,  and  a  conference  like  this  could  contribute  a  great  deal  towards 
dispelling  them.  Again,  there  is  another  prejudice  and  prepossession  that  our  South 
American  brethren  are  scarcely  half  civilized.  We  are  frequently  told  that  they 
lack  in  business  instinct.  Perhaps  they  may  not  equal  the  Americans,  Germans  or 
English  in  business  instinct,  as  we  comprehend  that  term,  but  they  know  what  they 
need  better  than  we  do.  There  is  an  impression  that  somehow  or  other  the  South 
Americans  are  inimical  to  the  introduction  to  American  capital.  There  are  some 
"know-nothingers,"  but  the  major  part  would  like  to  see  the  American  capital 
brought  in,  not  because  they  love  us,  but  because  they  have  shrewd  insight,  bringing 
the  American  product  to  compete  with  German  and  British,  and  therefore  have  it 
cheaper  to  themselves. 

Another  prejudice  and  prepossession  is  that  American  capital,  if  introduced, 
cannot  be  protected;  but  somehow  or  other  our  British  and  German  competitors 
manage  to  get  along  with  their  capital.  They  do  not  have  to  connive  or  invoke 
the  Monroe  Doctrine  or  call  in  warships,  but  they  succeed. 

Another  prejudice  and  preconception  is  that  South  Americans  are  abominably 
slow  in  paying.  Well,  there  is  nothing  remarkable  about  that  in  a  country  that  has 
an  abundance  of  natural  products  and  has  a  scarcity  of  ready  money.  There  is 
nothing  at  all  strange  about  it.  It  was  declared  on  a  certain  occasion  by  a  witty 
Frenchman  that  there  was  only  one  expression  in  Spanish  which  means  "money 
tomorrow,"  and  that  is  manana  pasada  manana  —  meaning  day  after  tomorrow.  And 
yet  there  does  not  seem  to  be  a  very  great  amount  of  difficulty  arising  from  that 
source  other  than  American,  on  that  score.  You  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  son  of 
his  fathers  —  call  it  in  any  generalization  that  you  like  —  that  our  South  American 
merchant  is  cautious  and  conservative;  he  wants  what  he  wants  when  he  wants  it, 
and  in  the  form  he  wants  it,  and  just  because  somebody  comes  to  him  and  represents 
to  him  that  it  is  a  novelty  and  just  as  good  and  up-to-date  and  all  that  sort  of 
thing,  he  is  not  convincing  necessarily.  He  wants  it  in  a  particular  form,  and  he 
won't  be  satisfied  until  he  gets  it  in  that  form. 

He  is  extremely  courteous  in  his  manner  and  highly  punctilious.  Of  course, 
our  wits  are  very  apt  to  draw  the  whole  thing  into  the  ridiculous,  declaring  that 
when  we  address  South  Americans  we  have  to  make  use  of  all  sorts  of  flowery 
phrases.  There  is  no  use  of  making  use  of  flowery  phrases,  but  bear  in  mind  when 
we  are  dealing  with  people,  if  we  want  to  do  business  with  them  we  have  got  to 
adapt  ourselves  to  that  mode  of  address. 

Another  prepossession  and  prejudice,  namely,  a  habit  of  knocking  the  Ameri- 
can merchants  on  general  principles.     I  have  no  sympathy  with  that.    I  do  declare, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  that  some  Americans  do  things  mighty  well.    The  majority  of 
them  do  things  well  and  a  few  of  them  do  things  poorly.    Do  not  let  us  take 
inverse   proposition;   but   this   wholesale  habit  of  declaring  Americans   do  things 
poorly,  and  this  wholesale  robbing  the  Germans  and  the  British  of  the  ?PP?rt«n'ty 
of  the  development,  I  do  not  sympathize  with.    We  must  bear  in  mind  this,  that  t 
country  is  not  primarily  an  exporting  nation  as  yet.    Great  Britain  and  Germany 
are  primarily  exporting  nations.     They  must  be  from  the  very  nature  of 
Furthermore,  they  were  first  on  the  ground,  and  again  they  have  developed  a  who  e 
series  of  methods  which  suit  -those  circumstances  of  the  exporting  nation. 


°nC  SINow,  the  other  side,  namely,  let  us  take  a  sane  view  of  what  «  available,  and 
how  we  may  get  it.  One  thing  is  to  study,  things  at  first  hand-look  into  coi  editions 
ourselves.  Two  things  occur  upon  the  visit  of  the  American  merchant  to  South 
America.  The  first  is,  he  finds  out  what  is.  needed,  and  the  second  Jhmg  is,  the 
reverse  side,  the  South  American  merchant,  is  convinced  thai  we  :  have  an  ^  in  crest 
in  getting  his  trade.  We  must  have  a  certain  amount  of  regard  for  t: 

in 

« 


when  it  is  of  a  moral  sort,  that  distinguishes  the  Latin  American,  more  especially 
in  the  matter  of  extreme  pride  and  extreme  sensitiveness.  Pride  is  only  another 
form  of  considerateness  of  the  fathers,  which  is  universally  important  in  the  treat- 
ment of  Latin  Americans.  For  their  part  it  is  because  others  treat  them  consid- 
erately, and  in  the  same  fashion  they  will  treat  others  with  considerateness ;  and 
sensitiveness  is  only  another  way  of  expressing  the  golden  rule ;  that  they  will  accord 
to  others  a  very  large  amount  of  urbanity  and  courtliness  and  hospitality,  but  they 
expect  Americans  to  do  the  same  thing  in  return.  Furthermore,  when  our  tourists 
go  down  there  and  put  on  peon  costumes,  as  some  of  them  do,  it  is  just  about  as 
ridiculous  as  foreigners  going  trailing  up  and  down  wearing  journeyman's  blouse. 
Nor  would  we  like  it  very  much  if  a  party  of  South  Americans  would  suddenly 
burst  into  our  church  and  raise  a  disturbance,  and  yet  South  Americans  do  not  relish 
that  a  great  deal. 

Furthermore,  if  some  of  our  merchants  who  complain  about  the  financial  laxity 
of  the  South  American  merchants  would  only  take  the  trouble  in  ascertaining  in 
advance  there  would  be  few  complaints  about  inability  to  collect.  Furthermore,  if 
the  South  Americans  want  a  thing  in  a  certain  form  and  under  certain  conditions, 
give  it  to  them.  Do  not  try  to  impress  them  with  the  fact  that  a  certain  thing  is 
much  better ;  they  know  what  they  want  better  than  we  do. 

It  would  be  a  very  good  thing  if  this  office  of  the  Department  of  State,  or 
any  other  available  office,  would  find  out  just  what  the  products  are  with  which 
we  can  compete  favorably,  and  find  out  also  just  what  the  products  are  with  which 
it  is  useless  to  compete.  We  ought  to  have  some  means  of  compiling  a  comparative 
scale  of  prices.  Another  good  thing  is  to  study  consular  and  other  public  literature, 
that  published  by  our  State  Department  and  by  the  Department  of  Commerce  and 
Labor,  as  well  as  by  that  published  by  this  office. 

Again,  advertise  in  South  American  newspapers,  magazines,  pamphlets,  the- 
atrical programs,  billboards  or  anything  else.  Let  them  find  out,  furthermore,  to 
what  class  of  persons  each  thought  of  publication  is  especially  adapted.  It  would 
be  a  good  thing  to  imitate  our  medicine  men.  You  will  find  them  proclaiming  their 
wares  upon  almost  every  billboard,  newspaper  and  theatrical  program,  whether  it 
is  pink  pills,  ague  pills,  and  everything  of  the  sort,  and  you  find  a  certain  warning 
finger  spread  out  all  over  Latin  America. 

Another  thing,  why  does  not  our  associated  press  set  up  agencies  in  different 
parts  of  South  America  for  the  purpose  of  dispelling  erroneous  notions  about  us  ? 
Why,  talking  about  plague,  pestilence  and  murder  and  sudden  death — those  things 
are  not  in  any  comparison  with  what  the  average  South  American  thinks  about  this 
country.  If  they  think  this  country  has  nothing  in  it  but  divorces,  lynchings,  rail- 
road wrecks,  woe  betide  us.  That  is  the  kind  of  news  that  is  sent  down  by  their 
correspondents.  Let  us  have  our  own  associated  press  go  down  there  to  counteract 
these  reports ;  and,  furthermore,  to  furnish  interesting  and  reliable  information  along 
certain  lines  that  will  show  we  are  a  progressive  nation. 

Although  I  am  aware  of  the  fact  that  it  is  perhaps  out  of  order  to  do  what 
I  intend  to  do  at  the  present  moment,  it  seems  to  me  perfectly  proper  and  more  than 
proper,  and  that  it  would  be  absolutely  just  for  this  gathering  to  put  itself  on  record 
in  some  potent  fashion,  how  much  wre  appreciate  the  services  rendered  by  one  of  our 
foremost  statesmen  in  serving  as  the  pioneer  in  our  dealings  with  South  America, 
the  pioneer  of  American  enterprise  in  South  America,  a  man  to  whom  we  ought 
properly  to  say  "All  hail !"  That  man  celebrates  his  birthday  today,  and  it  seems  to 
me  that  this  conference  might  well  agree  to  request  our  chairman  to  convey  to  the 
Senator  from  the  State  of  New  York,  Elihu  Root,  our  congratulations. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  am  sure  that  that  suggestion  of  Prof.  Shepherd 
is  acceptable  to  you,  but  lam  going  to  give  you  the  chance  to  vote  and  not  get  the 
mild  criticism  I  did  before.  All  those  in  favor  of  extending  the  congratulations  of 
this  conference  to  Senator  Elihu  Root  of  New  York,  on  reaching  the  sixty-sixth 
birthday,  please  rise.  (The  audience  arose.)  The  vote  appears  to  be  unanimous, 
and  the  congratulations  will  be  extended  to  him  this  afternoon. 

Is  Mr.  Yanes,  the  Assistant  Director,  there? 

Mr.  Yanes  arose.  Mr.  Yanes,  I  wish  you  would  go  to  the  telephone  and, 
on  behalf  of  the  Conference,  telephone  to  the  Secretary  of  Mr.  Root,  and  inform  him 
that  exactly  five  minutes  past  four  the  Conference,  upon  motion  of  Professor  Shep- 
herd, and  expressed  by  unanimously  rising,  extended  to  him  its  sincere  congratula- 
tions upon  his  sixty-sixth  birthday. 

PROF.  SHEPHERD  :    I  suggest  an  amendment  or  addition  to  that,  and  that  is  that 

112 


we  also  incorporate  our  appreciation  to  Mr.  Root's  work  in  the  development  of  more 
friendly  and  personal  relations  between  the  United  States  and  South  America  I 
followed  Mr.  Root  and  the  fleet  around  South  America,  and  I  believe  two  of  'the 
greatest  advertisements  this  country  has  had  was  the  visit  of  Mr.  Root  and  the 
sending  of  the  fleet  around  the  world. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  If  there  are  no  objections,  that  will  be  incorpo- 
rated with  the  expression,  telling  that  the  Conference  expresses  its  gratitude  for  his 
great  work  in  bringing  about  closer  relations  between  North  and  South  America 
Is  that  the  sense  of  it? 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  will  just  embody  that.  Now,  are  there  any 
questions  to  be  asked  Professor  Shepherd? 

MR.  CHAS.  L.  CHANDLER,  U.  S.  Vice  Consul  General,  Buenos  Aires,  Argentina  : 
One  concrete  instance  Mr.  Shepherd  suggested  I  think  ought  to  be  brought  out  very 
strongly  in  regard  to  advertising.  I  happened  to  have  my  home  two  years  in  Buenos 
Aires,  and  heard  something  personally  I  would  like  to  quote.  The  export  manager  of 
a  large  English  ink  company  wanted  to  go  about  getting  some  business.  He  put  up  a  big 
sign  in  Spanish  in  every  railway  station,  and  the  sales  last  year  amounted  to  exactly 
$165,000  as  a  result  of  that,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  in  the  larger  cities  railway  and 
street-car  advertising  cannot  be  too  strongly  done  as  a  means  for  our  people  getting 
in  contact  down  there.  By  doing  so  a  great  many  of  our  leading  exporters  have  made 
a  great  deal  of  money. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Is  there  any  other  question  of  Professor 
Shepherd? 

MR.  CLARK  :  Professor  Shepherd,  you  said  a  great  deal  about  giving  the 
Pan  Americans  the  things  they  want.  What  do  you  mean  by  that,  Professor? 
Do  the  Germans  change  standards  every  five  minutes  to  suit  their  Pan  American 
customers  ? 

PROFESSOR  SHEPHERD:  I  will  tell  you  what  they  do.  They  find  out  what  the 
taste  is  in  that  locality  and  they  cater  to  that  taste. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Is  there  any  other  question?  If  not,  we  will 
consider  the  debate  closed. 

QUESTION  :  There  has  been  much  said  about  terms.  What  is  meant  by 
"terms?"  What  do  they  expect  of  us—  what  terms  must  we  give  South  America? 

PROFESSOR  SHEPHERD:  They  usually  demand  long  credit  —  60,  90,  and  even  as 
much  as  six  months  —  and  the  Europeans  usually  find  it  convenient  to  advance  them 
long  credits,  and  we  most  frequently  are  apt  to  ask  them  to  pay  cash  on  delivery, 
or  even  before  goods  are  delivered,  but  that  is  gradually  disappearing  —  that  prejudice 
about  long  credits  is  going  away,  and  we  are  extending  long  credits. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:    Thank  you  very  much,  Professor  Shepherd. 

The  inspiration  of  one  of  the  most  important  countries  of  Latin  America  has 
been  absent,  because  we  have  been  hoping  that  the  diplomatic  representative  of  that 
country  could  be  here,  as  have  been  others  —  that  is,  Brazil  —  but  a  certain  degree  of 
timidity  and  modesty  makes  him  hesitate  to  come.  We  have  here  a  brief  paper 
prepared  for  him  by  the  Vice  Consul  of  Brazil  in  New  York,  which  will  be  read  by 
Dr.  Hale,  and  then  I  am  going  to  call  for  some  very  brief  remarks  by  Bishop  Kin- 
solving,  who  is  one  of  the  very  best  authorities  on  Brazil,  and  Mr.  Atherton  Brownell, 
who  looks  after  the  Brazilian  propaganda;  Mr.  Raposo  and  one  or  two  others,  for 
brief  remarks,  and  when  they  are  through  speaking  they  will  answer  any  questio 
that  may  be  asked.  Dr.  Hale  will  now  please  read  this  paper. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  FRANCISCO  GARCIA  PEREIRA  LEAO, 
BRAZILIAN  VICE-CONSUL,  NEW  YORK 

Mr.  LEAO  said: 

I  am  glad  we  are  here  today  trying  to  learn  the  conditions  °f  *«  W1^* 
of  the  Western  Hemisphere,  sure  that  the  knowledge  will  increase  the  /nendship 
that  prevails  among  us,  creating  an  harmony  so  necessary  to  co-operative 


anoagre  '  European  countries.     We  know  something 

about  the  North  Pole  from  the  description  of  the  audacious  explore  s^  We  are 
well  informed  of  the  dynamics  of  the  universe  by  the  records  of  Astronomers  We 
know  the  wonders  of  the  ocean.  We  know,  through  the  microscope,  tl 


"3 


habits  of  the  micro-organism.  By  the  law  of  chemistry  we  know  the  combination 
of  matter,  the  life  and  properties  of  the  elements.  But  how  little  do  we  know  of 
our  next-door  neighbors,  or  even  ourselves?  And  our  ignorance  of  each  other  is 
unfortunately  increased  by  that  powerful  instrument,  the  press,  which  seems  to  find 
enjoyment  in  depicting  and  exaggerating  our  faults,  but  is  silent  in  regard  to  our 
good  qualities  and  virtues.  For  instance,  there  is  a  general  impression  in  North 
America  that  we  are  volcanoes  in  continual  eruption.  My  country  made  abolition 
of  slavery  without  the  shedding  of  blood;  formed  a  republic  with  flowers.  Its 
boundary  lines  have  been  settled  entirely  by  arbitration  and  through  the  ability  and 
patriotism  of  our  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  Baron  de  Banco ;  still  we  have  not 
yet  acquired  the  credit  of  being  a  peaceful  nation. 

Our  institutions  of  learning  are  modeled  after  the  best  in  Europe.  Engineers 
from  our  colleges  are  conquering  immense  areas  by  piercing  the  mountains  and 
crossing  the  great  rivers  with  beautiful  bridges  that  are  monuments  of  art  and 
science. 

Cities  are  built  after  the  most  artistic  and  sanitary  plans,  and  the  pestilence 
that  once  darkened  our  horizon  has  entirely  disappeared.  In  its  place  we  have  a 
paradise  of  health. 

We  have  a  large  number  of  brilliant  statesmen,  of  which  the  late  Ambassador 
Nabuco  was  a  beautiful  example. 

Our  farmers  are  cultivating  the  soil  by  the  most  modern  processes,  thus 
reaping  great  and  profitable  results.  Still  we  have  not  yet  acquired  the  reputation 
of  being  a  civilized  nation.  And  what  I  say  of  Brazil  can  be  said  of  the  other 
Latin  American  Republics. 

From  our  mines  European  enterprises  are  extracting  great  mineral  wealth, 
for  Brazil  is  a  giant  whose  arteries  and  veins  are  rivers  of  gold  and  whose  muscles 
are  mountains  of  iron. 

Our  forests  are  rich  in  lumber,  fibers,  rubber,  rosin,  gums,  fruit  and  nuts, 
waiting  for  energetic  hands  to  transform  it  into  wealth. 

It  is  time  for  the  American  people  to  awaken  to  the  fact  that  Brazil  offers 
great  opportunities  for  enterprisers  and  investors. 

When  our  mate  tea,  which  pays  20  per  cent,  duty  to  enter  into  the  United 
States,  is  free  from  that  duty  and  enters  on  the  free  list  as  tea  from  other  countries, 
your  nation  will  have  a  new  product  which  will  bring  many  millions  to  our  market. 

Our  commerce  is  growing  every  day,  and  while  America  is  already  leading  in 
the  importation  of  our  goods,  European  countries,  as  England  and  Germany,  are 
leading  in  the  commerce  of  exploitation. 

I  see  no  reason  why  America  should  not  lead  in  all  respects,  for  with  modern 
machinery  and  skillful  ability  this  wonderful  nation  is  surpassing  every  other  nation 
with  its  industry. 

To  out-do  your  competitors  you  must  study  their  methods. 

Europeans  send  into  Brazil  very  intelligent  and  prepared  travelers,  and  many 
times  the  chiefs  of  large  commercial  houses  go  personally  with  the  aim  of  promoting 
business  and  improving  commerce.  They*  study  our  peculiarities  and  our  means. 
They  try  to  bring  about  good  and  cheap  transportation  and  banking  facilities.  They 
have  given  special  attention  to  packing  and  handling  goods  without  a  loss.  They 
find  out  very  promptly  who  are  their  competitors,  study  their  goods  and  prices,  then 
adapt  themselves  advantageously,  thus  increasing  their  possibilities  in  the  struggle 
for  supremacy. 

Do  the  same  and  you  will  succeed,  for  Brazil  is  a  true  friend  of  America. 

The  Pan  American  Union,  this  great  center  of  education,  has  done  more  for 
the  cause  of  the  American  homogenic  than  one  can  appreciate.  And  it  is  extremely 
gratifying  to  us  to  have  championing  our  cause  of  Pan  Americaism  the  worthy 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Knox.  And  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  guided  by  the  spirit  of  progress  and  humanity,  has  always 
been  since  its  beginning  the  great  promoter  of  our  harmony,  and  for  that  we  extend 
our  eternal  gratitude. 

ADDRESS  OF  RIGHT  REV.  LUCIEN  LEE  KINSOLVING, 
OF  THE  BRAZILIAN  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

Bishop  KINSOLVING  said: 

Mr.  Director  General  and  Gentlemen:  I  am  to  speak  briefly  for  seven  min- 
utes from  the  inside  point  of  view.  My  only  title  to  your  audience  today  is  the 

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fact  that  I  have  lived  21  years  in  Brazil.  I  want  to  give  you  the  Latin-American 
point  of  view  as  I  see  it.  First,  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  your  colossal 
ignorance  in  regard  to  everything  South  American.  I  have  said  as  much  to  an  au- 
dience of  Boston  women,  and  yet  I  live  to  tell  the  tale. 

The  Republic  of  Brazil  is  the  most  colossal  republic  on  this  earth's  surface 
today.  You  can  put  the  United  States  of  America  in  Brazil  and  you  can  have  a 
Brazilian  fringe  all  around  it.  That  is  how  big  it  is.  As  for  population,  it  has  as 
much  population  as  all  the  rest  of  South  America  put  together,  with  the  exception 
of  perhaps  one  republic.  Will  you  please  look  at  this  map  and  study  it  for  a 
moment?  Here  is  Brazil,  and  just  opposite,  with  her  total  trades,  is  the  Argentine 
with  its  total  trades.  That  shows  that  that  pretty  speech  that  came  from  the  lips  of 
Mr.  Santamarina  yesterday  is  from  a  man  who  knows  what  he  is  talking  about.  The 
Argentine  is  far  more  advanced.  Brazil  is  far  more  vast.  Brazil  is  the  growing 
country  of  opportunity.  I  am  afraid  a  great  many  of  the  opportunities  in  Argentine 
have  already  been  seized.  In  that  great  republic,  stretching  from  the  Amazon  on  the 
north  to  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  on  the  south,  you  have  three  great  sections  —  North 
Brazil,  Central  and  South  Brazil.  1  want  you  to  remember,  every  one  of  you  gen- 
tlemen, that  during  any  of  our  blizzards,  when  you  put  on  a  rubber  shoe,  that  they 
all  come  from  Brazil;  and  when  everyone  of  you  gentlemen  go  to  ride  in  automobiles 
to  know  that  the  tires  all  come  from  Brazil  ;  and  I  would  like  you  all  to  know  that 
every  cup  of  coffee  you  drink,  almost,  comes  from  Brazil.  You  call  it  Mocha  or 
Java,  but  it  all  grows  on  the  same  tree  in  the  Santos  region.  In  other  words,  Mocha 
and  Java  have  become  grade  names  rather  than  geographical  names,  very  much  as 
some  of  the  Spanish  olives  are  grown  today  in  California,  because  your  men  lied 
and  would  not  put  California  olive  on  the  bottle,  because  they  think  the  name 
"Spanish"  would  make  it  sell  better. 

What  are  conditions  there?  In  the  first  place,  you  must  treat  the  Latin- 
American,  and,  above  all,  the  Brazilian,  as  a  man  and  brother  and  equal.  You  must 
go  there  and  treat  him  fair  and  honestly.  You  must  not  go  there  and  think  that 
you  can  hoodwink  him  and  he  won't  know  just  as  well  as  you  what  he  needs  and 
what  he  wants.  Your  articles  from  America  that  have  had  such  great  progress  in 
Brazil  have  been  articles  which  demonstrate  on  the  very  face  their  superiority.  We 
heard  something  yesterday  from  the  Dayton  people,  with  their  cash  registers,  and 
the  whole  reason  why  cash  registers  succeed  so  well  in  Brazil,  Argentine  or  any 
other  part  of  the  world  is  because  no  other  man  but  an  American  has  ever  invented 
anything  to  be  compared  with  the  cash  register. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:    Mr.  Patterson  is  right  there  in  front  of  you. 

BISHOP  KINSOLVING:  The  same  way  with  plows,  because  you  can  produce  an 
American  plow  cheaper  and  better  than  any  other  nation.  There  are  those  specific 
articles,  and  those  articles  may  need  specific  men  to  exploit  them  in  those  South 
American  territories,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  we  are  up  against  certain  obstacles. 
One  obstacle  is  that  of  the  lack  of  ocean  facilities.  Well,  it  is  up  to  you  to  remedy 
that.  If  you  choose  to  do  it  by  giving  a  subsidy,  all  well  and  good  ;  give  us  a  subsidy 
and  establish  a  line  of  ships  and  send  your  articles  over. 

Another  obstacle  is  the  lack  of  banking.  Why,  do  you  know  that  my  Church 
does  a  good  deal  of  banking  down  there  in  Brazil,  and  we  do  it  all  with  a  Brazilian 
bank,  a  reliable  institution,  about  as  reliable  as  any  Wall  Street  bank;  and  yet  an 
American  Church.  I  have  a  little  account  in  Alexandria,  Va.,  and  yet  down  in 
Brazil,  South  America,  they  cashed  my  check,  sent  it  to  New  York,  and  they  gave 
me  the  cash  value  of  that  check.  But  if  you  want  better  banking  facilities  it  is  up 
to  you  gentlemen  here  at  home  to  give  those  better  banking  facilities. 

The  greatest  obstacle,  as  I  take  it,  in  this  intercommercial  relation,  is  the 
question  of  the  tariff,  and  I  tell  you  where  I  think  you  ought  to  try  to  remedy  that 
Look  at  the  chart.     What  a  difference  there  is  between  the  blue  blocks  in  Brazil  !— 
$22,000,000  exports  from  the  United  States  into  Brazil;  from  Brazil  into  the  Unit 
States  $123,000,000.     You  have  $101,000,000  balance  of  trade.     You  buy  from  Brazi 
every  year  $i  01,000,000  more  than  you  sell  to  her,  and  how  do  you  effect  that  balance 
of  trade?    How  do  you  pay  your  bills?    Those  ships  bring  up  the  coffee  to  New  York 
and  then  they  slide  over  to  Europe,  and  they  go  to  England,  and  they  ^  to  Germany 


115 


get  them,  by  reason  of  the  great  balance  of  trade,  to  let  in  more,  and  you  have  got  as 
a  lever  one  hundred  and  one  millions  in  your  favor,  buying  that  much  more  from 
them ;  and  that,  it  seems  to  me,  ought  to  be  a  lever  whereby  you  can  ask  for  their 
friendship,  whereby  they  can  let  in  your  articles  to  the  amount  of  somthing  like  a 
hundred  million. 

Then  another  obstacle  is  this:  Ignorance,  as  I  said  in  the  first  instance.  It 
seems  to  me  that  if  you  were  going  down  there  to  win  that  trade  you  have  got  to 
send  men  for  that  purpose ;  and  you  want,  first  of  all,  as  has  been  said  so  frequently, 
a  man  that  knows  how  to  sell  an  article.  But,  I  should  say  to  you,  as  one  of  the 
first  things,  as  soon  as  you  get  the  man  with  the  salesman  faculty,  to  try  to  cultivate 
his'  head  and  his  intellect — try  to  cultivate  that  head  and  intellect ;  second,  learn  the 
history  of  that  Brazilian  people;  try  to  learn  and  to  understand  the  conditions  of 
those  old  Portuguese  pathfinders  of  the  seas,  who  planted  their  ships  in  the  ancient 
days  on  every  sea,  and  try  to  let  him  sympathize  with  the  traditions  of  that  splendid 
nation;  and  if  you  let  him  go  there  with  those  principles  in  his  heart,  and  treat  them 
as  an  equal  and  try  to  meet  them  on  their  own  ground  and  to  understand  just  their 
point  of  view,  and  to  go  there  and  live  as  a  Latin  and  live  as  a  Brazilian,  and  under- 
stand all  the  ins  and  outs  of  trade,  and  send  back  his  information  to  you  here  at 
home,  then  I  believe  that  you  will  find  that  your  trade  will  increase,  and  it  is  the 
only  way.  You  never  trusted  a  man  in  your  life  if  you  could  not  talk  to  him.  You 
have  got  to  learn  his  language,  because  it  is  a  part  of  his  soul ;  you  have  got  to  get 
something  of  the  spirit  and  traditions  of  which  he  comes. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  ATHERTON   BROWNELL, 
OF  THE  BRAZILIAN  PROPAGANDA 

Mr.  BROWNELL  said : 

I  feel  that  the  gentleman  preceeding  me  has  stolen  all  my  thunder  to  such 
an  extent  that  I  will  sound  very  much  like  the  rattling  we  hear  on  the  stage 
of  imitation  thunder.  I  want  to  thank  you  here  for  having  said  vigorously  and 
plainly  and  so  convincingly  a  thousand  and  one  things  I  had  in  my  mind  that 
I  would  like  very  much  indeed  to  say  to  you  regarding  Brazil,  but  I  am  going  to 
confine  myself  to  one  rather  circumscribed  circle. 

You  have  heard  most  eloquently  concerning  Brazil  and  its  opportunities.  I 
think  the  most  condensed  expression  of  the  opportunities  of  Brazil  that  I  have 
heard  came  from  a  very  distinguished  Brazilian  visiting  this  country  a  few  months 
ago,  when  he  said  to  me :  "Why,  Brazil,  in  regard  to  its  undeveloped  opportunities, 
is  where  the  United  States  was  100  years  ago."  How  many  are  there  here,  gentle- 
men, who  would  not,  with  your  now  perfected  hind  sight,  be  very  glad  indeed  to 
seize  some  of  the  opportunities  that  you  have  seen  seized  in  the  United  States  and 
developed?  Brazil  today  is  full  of  exactly  those  opportunities.  You  have  heard 
from  the  Bishop  who  preceded  me  something  of  those  opportunities,  something  of 
the  vast  wealth  of  Brazil,  which  covers  almost  every  conceivable  product  from  gold 
and  diamonds  down  to  the  small  products  of  the  soil ;  and  you  have  seen  also  on 
this  chart  displayed  here  how  it  is  that  we  are  selling  to  Brazil  so  little  in  com- 
parison with  what  we  are  buying  from  Brazil,  with  that  enormous  balance  of  trade 
of  over  $100,000,000  against  us.  The  point  I  want  to  make  to  you,  gentlemen,  is 
this :  It  is  the  fault  of  the  merchants  of  the  United  States,  and  it  is  their  fault  alone 
that  that  balance  of  trade  exists  against  us.  Our  trade  with  Brazil  would  be  insig- 
nificant were  it  not  for  the  immense  shipments  of  rubber  and  coffee  that  now  come 
to  this  country,  but  when  I  say  the  fault  lies  entirely  with  the  Americans  and  the 
American  merchants  I  want  to  point  out  to  you  that  Brazil,  of  all  countries  that  I 
have  ever  seen,  is  more  anxious  than  any  other  to  have  American  merchants,  Ameri- 
can industry,  American  brains,  American  capital.  Brazil's  hand  is  held  out  to  us 
all  the  time.  You  have  heard  a  brief  mention  of  it.  It  was  found  some  years  ago 
that  for  some  strange  reason  the  merchants  of  the  United  States  were  not  selling 
to  Brazil  what  the  Brazilians  thought  they  ought  to.  It  was  a  reflection  upon  us, 
gentlemen,  when  Brazil  said:  "Here  are  our  markets,  here  are  our  pocketbooks; 
come  and  sell  to  us.  Why  don't  you  come  ?"  And  what  did  they  do  ?  They  proceeded 
to  grant  to  Americans  the  preferential  tariff  on  many  classes  of  goods  sufficient  to 
offset  our  difficulties  of  transportation,  and  they  have  more  recently  increased  that 
preferential  tariff  and  also  increased  the  number  of  commodities  to  which  it 

116 


applies.  Furthermore,  gentlemen,  I  think  that  Brazil — I  do  not  speak  with  positive 
knowledge — but  I  think  that  Brazil  is  the  only  country  of  South  America  that  con- 
ducts an  active  propaganda  for  the  purpose  of  enlightening  the  entire  world  and 
removing  some  of  the  ignorance  that  you  have  just  heard  mentioned.  This  propa- 
ganda service  extends  all  over  the  world.  Every  city  of  any  size  in  Europe  has  its 
delegation.  It  has  its  branch  offices  with  every  detail,  every  particle  of  data  neces- 
sary for  anyone  to  open  up  business  with  Brazil.  Only  recently  Brazil  sent  a  com- 
mission up  to  the  United  States. 

Brazil  has  immense  deposits  of  iron  which  we  need,  and  Brazil  wants  our 
coal,  and  Brazil  comes  to  us  and  says :  "We  will  send  you  our  iron ;  you  send  us 
your  coal."  The  present  President  of  Brazil,  Marshal  da  Fonseca,  told  me  last 
summer  that  if  I  had  the  opportunity  of  talking  to  any  Americans  here  who  desired 
to  do  business  with  Brazil  to  tell  them  to  come  and  they  would  be  received  with 
open  arms.  I  think  that  has  been  borne  out  by  the  action  of  Brazil  on  this  pref- 
erential tariff,  but  that  is  not  the  only  detail  which  bears  out  that  expression  of 
welcome.  Let  me  call  your  attention  to  what  Mr.  Niles,  of  the  Rubber  Congress, 
did  in  New  York  last.  Why,  gentlemen,  the  opportunities  of  Brazil  are  not  only  so 
vast,  but  they  are  yours  for  the  asking.  Any  group  of  Americans,  properly  endorsed, 
properly  backed,  can  go  to  Brazil,  and  they  will  have  given  to  them  50,000  acres  of 
rubber-bearing  land  to  cultivate,  and  Brazil  will  remove  its  tariff  very  largely  upon 
the  importation  of  the  machinery  for  the  handling  of  that  rubber.  It  will  likewise 
reduce  its  export  duty  on  the  rubber  that  comes  out.  In  addition  to  all  of  which, 
they  will  guarantee  you  interest  on  your  money.  Can  any  country  open  its  doors 
any  more  to  the  American  merchant?  And  I  ask  you  if  the  Americans,  with  their 
well-known  reputation  for  seizing  trade,  cannot  take  advantage  of  such  a  situation. 
It  lies  with  you;  it  does  not  lie  with  Brazil.  Brazil  is  doing  everything  it  can. 
Brazil  is  building  railroads  and  asking  for  American  capital,  and  they  are  again 
saying:  "Come  down  and  build  our  railroads  for  us.  Let  us  see  your  American 
ability.  We  recognize  you  as  leaders  in  industry.  Come  and  show  us  how.  Here 
are  the  goods ;  here  are  the  opportunities,  and  if  you  do  not  dare  to  risk  it  yourself, 
we  will  guarantee  you  your  interest."  No  country  can  do  more  than  that,  gentlemen. 
They  are  building  railroads.  They  are  guaranteeing  the  interest  on  those  railroad 
bonds.  I  do  not  carry  in  mind  at  this  moment  how  many  great  industries  of  Brazil 
are  open  to  concessions  of  that  kind,  but  I  do  know  that  Brazil  wants  and  will 
welcome  industry  in  many,  many  lines.  They  want  soap  factories ;  they  want  food- 
canning  factories.  They  see  no  particular  reasons  why  Americans  should  not  come 
down  there  and  erect  rubber  manufactories  instead  of  buying  rubber  shipped  from 
Brazil  here  to  be  manufactured,  paying  an  export  duty  when  it  goes  out,  import  it 
here,  and  going  back  again  as  the  manufactured  product.  Brazil  is  open  to  all  of 
you,  every  one  of  you,  and  if  you  remain  in  ignorance  regarding  Brazil  it  is  your 
own  fault ;  and  if,  therefore,  you  refuse  to  take  advantage  of  the  opportunities  that 
are  open  to  you  to  develop  Brazil  to  your  own  interest  and  advantage,  there,  again, 
gentlemen,  I  say  it  is  your  own  fault  likewise. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  We  are  going  to  have  one  or  two  more  words 
to  finish  up  Brazil,  and  as  soon  as  we  finish  up  this  consideration  of  Brazil,  then  we 
shall  have  a  paper  read  from  Mr.  Castro,  and  we  have  also  here  Mr.  Richling,  the 
Consul  General  of  Uruguay  in  New  York,  and  Alfredo  Metz  Green,  Consul  of 
Uruguay,  from  whom  we  shall  have  something  very  interesting.  While  on  this  mat- 
ter of  Brazil  I  am  going  to  give  Mr.  Moreira  five  minutes  on  this  question.  Mr. 
Moreira  is  a  man  from  Brazil  well  informed  on  that  country  and  a  Brazilian  himself. 

MR.  MOREIRA:  Gentlemen,  other  speakers  have  spoken  of  the  opportunities 
that  lie  in  Brazil,  and  some  persons  this  morning  have  asked  a  question  which  I 
think  could  be  answered  now — why  there  is  so  little  American  trade  in  Brazil.  The 
reason  is  very  simple.  The  fault  lies  entirely  with  you.  We  are  a  Portuguese 
nation,  not  a  Spanish  nation.  You  are  flooding  us  with  a  lot  of  Spanish  literature 
which  we  will  not  read,  not  because  we  do  not  understand  it,  but  because  it  is  not 
our  language.  If  we  flooded  your  field  with  Gernian  or  French  literature,  you  would 
do  the  same  thing.  If  it  were  Japanese,  you  might  keep  it  as  a  curio,  but  there  is  no 
reason  for  us  to  keep  a  Spanish  catalogue,  and  therefore  many  opportunities  that 
you  gentlemen  have  are  lost. 

Another  point  I  want  to  bring  out  is  about  the  question  of  your  agents.  Many 
manufacturers  tell  me  that  they  have  agents  for  Brazil.  I  ask  them  what  territory 
dp  they  cover,  and  they  tell  me  the  whole  of  Brazil.  That  is  a  matter  of  impossi- 
bility. That  traveling  man  is  drawing  a  very  fine  salary,  I  dare  say,  but  not  the  trade. 

117 


Another  question  also  which  is  very  impprtant  is  that  we  know,  as  a  rule, 
what  we  buy.  If  we  order  a  brand-new  typewriter,  we  do  not  want  a  rebuilt  one, 
and  that  has  been  the  case,  gentlemen,  more  than  once  in  Brazil.  We  know  we  are 
perfectly  up  to  date,  and  we  know  everything  that  is  used  in  this  country.  We  may 
not  use  it  very  much,  but  we  are  acquainted  with  the  article,  and  we  know  all 
about  it. 

Another  point  I  want  also  to  mention  is  the  question  of  packing.  In  Rio  a 
short  time  ago  I  saw  14  roll-top  desks  that  arrived  there  all  stove  in;  every  one  of 
them  was  broken.  The  man  who  gave  that  order  gave  his  instructions  at  the  same 
time  hpw  to  pack,  and  probably  the  shipping  clerk  thought  he  knew  all  about  it.  He 
said:  "The  idea  of  those  Brazilians  telling  us  how  they  want  a  thing  packed!  I 
know  how  to  do  that.  I  have  shipped  many  desks,"  and  therefore  he  packs  the  desks 
so  well  that  they  are  useless  when  they  arrive  there. 

There  is  one  practical  thing  I  want  to  suggest  to  you,  gentlemen,  and  that 
is  a  question  of  the  use  of  the  metric  system.  We  use  the  metric  system  there  and 
all  over  South  America,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  you  should  never  speak  to  us  in 
pounds,  because  it  is  confusing.  If  you  want  to  do  business  with  us,  you  must 
do  the  same  as  we  when  we  want  to  do  business  with  you ;  that  is  to  say,  adopt  our 
ways,  our  systems,  and  if  the  metric  system  could  be  used  generally  in  this  country 
it  would  be  a  great  help  to  the  Latin-American  trade  in  general. 

There  is  another  thing  that  probably  you  do  not  know,  and  that  is  that 
Brazil  is  very  anxious  to  promote  agriculture,  in  Rio  Grande  especially,  and  a  law 
or  amendment  was  passed  to  help  agricultural  syndicates  for  wheat  growing,  giving 
them,  provided  they  purchased  a  certain  amount  of  land,  for  five  years,  $4500  a  year 
to  help  that  syndicate,  provided,  naturally,  the  syndicate  cultivated  it.  It  must  be  only 
that  product.  The  Government  that  is  generous  enough  to  grant  that  large  sum  of 
money  ought  to  find  more  people  in  this  country  and  plenty  of  support  to  promote 
syndicates  to  go  down  there  and  cultivate  that  wheat,  as  Rio  Grande  is  a  very  fertile 
soil  and  is  next  door  to  Argentine,  the  largest  wheat  country,  pretty  near,  in  the 
world. 

Regarding  transportation,  gentlemen,  we  have  very  little  railroad  compared  to 
the  very  large  country.  We  have  some  on  the  coast,  but  not  as  many  as  we  want ;  so 
you  must  remember  that  many  goods  that  are  ordered  have  to  be  taken  from  the  train 
and  taken  on  muleback  to  the  interior  of  the  country.  Therefore,  instructions  that  a 
buyer  gives  to  an  American  manufacturer  should  be  obeyed  religiously  if  he  wants  to 
keep  his  trade. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :     I  am  sure  Mr.  Moreira  will  be  very  glad  to 
answer  any  questions  at  any  time  that  any  of  you  may  wish  to  see  him. 
Is  Mr.  Raposo  here?    Mr.  Raposo,  you  will  have  just  five  minutes. 

MR.  RAPOSO  :  I  cannot  say  much  in  five  minutes,  but  I  am  just  going  to  confine 
myself  to  a  few  notes  I  have  made  to  show  you  some  of  the  drawbacks  in  the  trade, 
the  mistakes,  so  that  the  manufacturers  who  are  doing  business  by  correspondence 
and  have  nobody  there  to  inform  you  will  know  how  to  do  next  time. 

I  have  seen  from  the  export  papers  that  several  manufacturers  quote  the  price 
f.  o.  b.  at  some  point  out  west.  When  you  give  the  prices  to  the  people  of  Brazil  you 
ought  to  bear  in  mind  that  they  have  no  facilities  to  find  out  what  the  freight  rate  is 
to  New  York,  in  order  to  find  what  the  cost  of  the  goods  will  be. 

Another  thing,  other  manufacturers  will  print  their  retail  prices  on  the  goods, 
and  some  go  to  such  an  extent  of  reasoning  the  right  to  do  that,  stating,  "I  will  pay 
the  freight.  I  will  deliver  your  goods  at  so  much  cost  right  at  your  door."  But  that 
man  forgot  that  there  is  a  high  tariff  to  be  considered  in  determining  the  cost  of  the 
goods,  and  then  he  has  to  consider  that  the  coast  is  very  long — 5000  miles ;  that  there 
is  an  extensive  territory  in  the  interior,  and  goods  that  retail  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  where 
facilities  or  boats  are,  will  be  worth  far  more  in  some  town  up  north,  and  it  may  be 
eight  or  ten  times  or  any  fancy  price  away  up  the  Amazon  River. 

But  another  important  thing  is  respecting  the  consular  invoices,  because  the 
custom-houses  are  very  strict,  and  I  have  seen  many  delays  caused  on  that  account, 

I  saw  the  other  day  one  manufacturer  sending  a  cable  code  to  Brazil  to  one 
customer  to  ask  for  the  goods,  and  they  gave  words  of  n  and  12  letters,  forgeting 
that  the  cables  cost  $i  a  word,  and  they  are  necessarily  compelling  the  customer  to 
pay  $i  more  for  each  word  he  is  going  to  use. 

Those  are  small  details,  but  I  thought  I  might  as  well  give  you  the  benefit  of 
them. 

118 


Another  question,  asking  Brazil  for  women  chemists  in  a  country  where  women 
do  only  domestic  work. 

I  would  like  to  call  your  attention  also  to  the  parcels  post.  The  United  States 
has  just  made  an  agreement  with  Brazil  for  parcels  post,  and  years  ago,  when  the 
parcels  post  system  was  adopted  with  France  and  England,  the  manufacturers  there 
nnd  department  stores  took  advantage  of  it,  and  the  trade  they  are  doing  now  is  re- 
markably increasing,  and  amounts  to  nearly  $100,000,  and  is  very  important. 

In  regard  to  the  matter  of  exclusive  agency.  I  saw  a  man  giving  the  exclusive 
agency  for  the  whole  territory  of  Brazil  to  a  small  man  away  up  in  the  interior.  Of 
course,  that  is  extraordinar}'. 

.In  regard  to  the  tariff,  I  would  like  to  say  again  that  you  ought  not  to  be  scared 
away  because  of  the  tariff,  because  your  competitors  have  to  pay  the  same  tariff,  and 
England  is  doing  the  business,  and  you  can  also  do  it.  American  goods  are  in  some 
instances  slightly  higher  in  price,  but  the  quality  compensates  it,  and  then  the  Bra- 
zilian will  pay  the  difference  for  the  sake  of  the  quality. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  am  now  going  to  call  upon  the  representative 
of  the  Republic  of  Uruguay,  which  is  just  below  Brazil,  not  so  large  in  area,  but  cer- 
tainly large  in  influence,  and  it  is  a  very  great  pleasure  to  introduce  Mr.  de  Castro, 
one  of  the  rising  young  statesmen  of  his  country,  a  lawyer,  justice  of  the  peace  and 
secretary  of  the  legation  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  who  has  now  come  to  us  and  is  cap- 
turing the  hearts  not  only  of  our  women:  but  of  our  men,  too. 

ADDRESS  OF  THE  CHARGE  D'AFFAIRES  OF  URUGUAY, 
DOCTOR  ALFREDO  DE  CASTRO 

Dr.  CASTRO  said : 

The  practical  study  of  the  commercial  life  maintained  by  political  entities, 
among  themselves,  is  the  study  of  the  Fiscal  and  Sanitary  obstacles,  which  each  one  of 
them  often  maintains,  as  a  standard  of  public  interests,  and  sometimes,  unfortunately, 
as  a  defense  of  private  interests  which  monopolize  production,  sterilizing  almost 
always  the  beneficial  action  of  international  competition. 

But  the  valuable  activities  devoted  to  the  transformation  of  natural  products 
are  subject,  in  spite  of  all,  to  the  lively  excitations  which  their  own  necessities  an<l 
desires  produce,  and  which  unceasingly  stimulate  that  transformation.  For  this  rea- 
son, a  congress  as  this  one  has  the  broad  and  generous  mission  of  bringing  togethei 
the  experts  who  will  rid  the  path  of  all  obstacles,  so  that  we  may  achieve  the  greatest 
benefit  from  the  ideal  to  which  we  all  aspire ;  the  welfare  of  all  beyond  all  conven- 
tional frontiers. 

The  first  step  will  have  been  accomplished  when  we  have  known  each  other 
better.  The  foundation  is  a  living  reality.  This  powerful  country,  and  also  Uruguay, 
love  progress,  and  their  workers  struggle  for  it,  seeing  at  the  same  time  the  expansion 
of  economic  forces  in  the  just  harmony  of  their  relations.  The  present  administration 
of  Uruguay,  whose  term  expires  with  this  month,  can  boast  of  important  and  numer- 
ous instances  of  the  interest  it  takes,  and  of  the  attention  it  devotes,  to  the  accomplish- 
ment of  the  betterment  of  the  prevailing  commercial  system.  Besides  the  large  sums 
that  have  been  expended  in  port  and  railroad  works,  the  Uruguayan  Legislature  has 
at  present  under  consideration  a  tariff  bill  that  will  greatly  facilitate  the  export  and 
import  trade,  because  it  embodies  the  best  features  of  the  American  and  of  the  Italian 
legislation.  The  passage  of  that  bill  will  place  Uruguay  "in  a  position  to  profit  by 
the  minimum  tariffs  of  other  nations  and  to  enter  into  special  agreements  whenever 
they  be  suitable  to  the  sale  of  her  products,  by  means  of  a  reduction  that  may  reach 
50  per  cent." 

The  formation  of  any  social  condensation  is  slow.  Thus  it  will  not  seem  strange 
to  the  careful  observer  that,  in  countries  which  only  a  few  decades  ago  entered  in  the 
concert  of  nations,  the  degree  of  their  economic  expansion  should  be  apparently  low. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  progress  is  infinite.  I  am  going  to  quote  some  statistical  figures 
which  corroborate  my  assertion  :  In  1908  Uruguay  sold  to  the  United  States  products 
to  the  value  of  $1,364,796;  in  1909  sales  amounted  to  $3,726,877,  and  in  1910  the  imports 
into  this  country  from  Uruguay  amounted  to  $7,413,806.  The  proportion  doubled  in 
the  brief  lapse  of  one  year !  It  is  high  time  that  the  interchange  of  natural  and  manu- 
factured products  should  begin  to  assume  the  enormous  proportions  which  the  virgin 
America  affords  it.  We  are  today  witnessing  the  violation  of  a  natural  law ;  the  fruits 
of  our  mutual  productions  increase  at  a  stupendous  rate. 

119 


-DOMINICAN:  REPUBLIC 


1  will  now  add  a  few  more  words  for  the  business  men  of  the  United  States. 
Uruguay  is  territorially  small  if  it  be  compared  with  the  two  nations  by  which  it  is 
bounded.  But  if  you  lift  your  eyes  to  that  map  you  will  notice  by  its  figures  its  pro- 
ducing and  purchasing  powers  ($86,000,000  foreign  trade  in  72,000  square  miles  of  ter- 
ritory). And  you  must  bear  in  mind  also  that  Switzerland  and  Belgium — not  to  men- 
tion other  countries — although  reduced  in  size,  are  real  emporiums  of  civilization 
and  wealth. 

Uruguay's  geographical  situation;  its  special  climatic  conditions;  its  liberal 
and  equitable  legislation ;  its  monetary  system  of  an  invariable  gold  standard,  and 
whose  unit  is  quoted  at  higher  ratio  than  the  American  gold  dollar,  which  is  saying  a 
great  deal ;  the  quality  of  its  products,  such  as  meat  and  its  derivations,  wool,  cereals, 
etc.,  offer  to  the  industrious  and  intelligent  men  a  broad  and  profitable  field  for  their 
activities. 

The  efforts  thus  far  made  by  American  capitalists,  manufacturers,  exporters 
and  business  men  to  participate  in  and  reap  the  profits  of  the  Uruguayan  market  have 
been  too  limited.  The  first  American  capital  to  be  invested  in  Uruguay  will  be  that 
of  a  railroad  company  which  has  ndt  as  yet  laid  its  rails.  Those  efforts  should  be 
pushed  forward  with  the  activity  and  intelligence  due  them,  and  undoubtedly  such 
timely  organizations  as  this  conference  will  give  a  powerful  impetus  to  the  current 
of  material  interests  that  flows  over  the  countries  of  the  American  Union,  making 
of  them  one  single  entity  for  their  mutual  benefits — Pan  America. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  now  introduce  Mr.  Richling,  who  is  Consul 
General  of  Uruguay. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  JOSE  RICHLING,  CONSUL  GENERAL 
OF  URUGUAY,  IN  NEW  YORK 

Mr.  RICHLING  said : 

While  as  a  matter  of  course  the  necessity  of  further  development  of  the  com- 
mercial interchange  between  the  United  States  of  America  and  Latin  America  forms 
the  keynote  of  a  good  many  discussions,  and  while  this  subject  has  been  discussed 
extensively,  it  would  yet  appear  that  certain  phases  thereof  have  been  treated,  com- 
paratively speaking,  with  less  thoroughness  than  ought  to  be  accorded  to  them.  May 
I,  in  connection  therewith,  venture  a  few  remarks  which  in  a  measure  may  contribute 
toward  the  solution  of  some  of  the  problems  confronting  the  exporting  trade,  espe- 
cially so  as  they  are  in  part  based  on  personal  experience,  although  I  disclaim  any  pre- 
tensions as  to  the  specific  studies  which  a  careful  analysis  of  these  points  would  neces- 
sarily call  for? 

Particular  stress  ought  to  be  laid,  in  this  connection,  on  the  fact  that  the  term 
so  frequently  used,  "Trade  with  South  America,"  is  so  elastic  that  it  is  liable  to  create 
in  the  mind  of  a  good  many  manufacturers  from  the  very  start  a  wrong  impression. 
If  any  South  American  exporter  would  use  the  expression,  "Trade  with  North 
America,"  he  would  be  much  more  nearly  right,  in  view  of  the  overwhelming  market 
that  is  offered  by  the  United  States  of  America  alone,  than  is  the  American  exporter 
who  applies  without  discrimination  the  expression,  "Trade  with  South  America," 
seemingly  not  realizing  that  if  he  thereby  means  also  the  application  of  identical 
methods  of  dealing  with  the  many  different  countries  that  make  up  the  continent  of 
South  America,  he  falls  into  a  serious  error  that  is  likely  to  be  conducive  of  serious 
disappointments  or  positive  failure.  The  sooner  the  American  exporter  is  made  to 
realize  that,  he  will  be  more  ready  and  disposed  to  study  carefully  the  characteristics 
of  each  country  where  he  desires  to  dispose  of  his  products.  When  doing  this  he 
will  merely  do  that  which  his  European  competitor  has  done  for  a  great  many  years 
already,  and  when  making  comparisons  between  the  results  realized  by  Europe  and 
those  that  the  American  exporter  would  like  to  realize,  it  is  NOT  sufficient  to  say : 
If  the  European  countries  have  succeeded  thus,  WE  can  surely  do  the  same,  but  it  is 
indispensable,  that  when  making  any  comparisons  at  all  the  comparison  should  not 
confine  itself  to  figures  but  should  investigate  the  underlying  conditions;  then  it 
would  be  promptly  realized  that  both  in  the  character  of  the  commerce  and  in  the 
methods  applied  and  resorted  to  there  exists  a  fundamental  difference.  It  must  be 
realized  that  the  home-market,  with  its  tremendous  possibilities,  has  at  all  times  fur- 
nished to  the  American  industry  a  most  excellent  field  for  the  sale  of  its  products,  all 
the  more  so  as  the  profits  realized  were  of  the  most  gratifying  kind.  However  impor- 

121 


tant  the  export  figures  appear  at  first  sight,  the  following  will  show  clearly  the  over- 
whelming consuming  power  of  the  domestic  market :  In  1890,  93  per  cent,  of  the  pro- 
duction of  the  American  industries  was  disposed  of  on  the  home  market,  90  per  cent, 
in  1000  and  02  per  cent,  in  1905;  or,  in  other  words,  in  1890,  1900  and  1905  the  export 
amounts  to  7  10  and  8  per  cent.,  respectively,  of  the  entire  production.  On  the  other 
hand  the  textile  industry  of  the  United  Kingdom,  the  most  important  of  that  country, 
produces  yearly,  quoting  in  round  figures,  goods  valued  at  $1,000,000,000,  and  of  this 
total  there  were  exported  in  1909,  approximately  speaking,  textile  goods  for  $650,000,- 
ooo  equal  to  65  per  cent,  of  the  total  output  of  that  industry  alone.  In  Germany,  indus- 
try develops  on  similar  lines,  whence  it  is  at  once  seen  that  the  procentual  distribution 
of  me  industrial  outputs  differ  fundamentally  in  the  United  States  and  in  Europe— so 
far !  At  the  same  time  it  appears  clear  that  the  potentiality  of  the  American  produc- 
tion is  so  stupendous  that  if  the  exportation  is  led  into  the  proper  channels  and  man- 
aged properly  the  greatest  future  lies  ahead  of  it,  a  fact  which  is  shown  plainly  by  the 
relative  increase  in  the  exportation  of  recent  years  which  in  a  number  of  cases  is 
greater  than  that  registered  by  the  countries  of  Europe,  and  which  would  show  still 
much  more  satisfactory  figures  if  adequate  means  were  resorted  to  to  increase  and 
facilitate  the  exportation. 

Amongst  such  additional  and  adequate  means  are  named  frequently  and  em- 
phatically the  establishment  of  additional  steamer  lines  and  the  installation  of  specific- 
ally American  banks  in  the  various  countries  of  South  America.  While  that  is  a 
theme  which,  because  of  its  complexity,  cannot  be  entered  into  sufficiently  and  should 
not  be  treated  either  in  a  superficial  manner,  1  wish  to  state  that  if  confronted  by  the 
question  whether  these  improvements  should  be  introduced  or  not,  I  would  say  most 
emphatically  and  most  positively  that  they  ought  to  be  brought  about  I  say  so, 
although  I  realize  that  American  banks,  if  established  in  the  region  of  the  River 
Plate,  for  instance,  would  necessarily  meet  in  the  beginning  with  serious  obstacles, 
having  to  enter  into  competition  with  banks  long  established,  but  I  also  am  firmly 
convinced  that  in  the  long  run  American  banks  would  gain  the  foothold  they  seek  and 
would  be  of  tremendous  advantage,  even  if  in  the  beginning  their  results  would  con- 
fine themselves  to  convincing  the  American  exporters  of  the  solvency  of  the  South 
American  countries,  doing  away  with  the  absurd  assertion  so  frequently  heard  that 
"American  goods  shipped  to  South  America  go  in  quest  of  adventures." 

So  necessary  appears  to  me  a  much  more  thorough  acquaintance  that  if  I 
had  to  fix  the  compensation  to  be  agreed  upon  by  new  steamship  lines  which  I  assume 
would  be  subsidized  by  the  State,  I  would  make  it  a  condition  sine  qua  non  that 
special  rates  would  be  allowed  to  merchants  and  their  salesmen  when  traveling  to  and 
from  South  America — in  fact,  I  would  even  favor  free  transportation — convinced  that 
no  means  would  be  as  forceful  as  that  to  induce  interested  parties  to  repair  to  those 
parts  and  to  familiarize  themselves  thoroughly  and  exhaustively  with  customs,  habits 
and  usages  prevailing  there,  and,  above  all,  with  the  general  condition  of  things  in 
these  countries  of  which  so  little  is  really  known  here. 

While  thus  laying  stress  on  the  great  importance  as  well  as  the  advantages  due 
to  and  accruing  from  new  means  of  conveyance  and  institutions  for  opening  up  proper 
intercourse  with  Latin  America,  and  I  know  that  my  opinion  is  shared  extensively  by 
American  exporters  as  far  as  the  foregoing  is  concerned,  I  must  emphasize  still  more 
strongly  another  factor  which,  while  in  my  eyes  of  an  overwhelming  importance,  seems 
to  me  to  have  been  badly  neglected,  and  this  is  the  factor  of  individual  effort.  Since 
we  have  spoken  of  comparisons,  let  me  ask  you  what  has  the  British  Government  done, 
what  is  the  German  Government  doing  in  behalf  of  the  expansion  of  the  trades  of 
their  respective  countries  ?  While  it  cannot  be  denied  that  those  and  other  Govern- 
ments have  contributed  in  a  measure  to  that  sought-for  expansion,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  this  is  but  very,  very  little  as  compared  with  the  results  that  have  been 
achieved  by  private  enterprise !  The  private  interests  of  Great  Britain  in  the  hundred 
years  or  so  that  cover  the  period  of  commercial  evolution  of  that  country  with  the 
South  American  continent,  invested  $475,000,000  in  Brazil,  $1,350,000,000  in  Argentine, 
£200,000,000  in  Uruguay  and  $250,000,000  in  Chile,  in  approximate  figures.  On  the 
other  hand,  compared  with  these  figures,  the  investments  on  the  part  of  American 
capitalists  are  practically  absolutely  insignificant.  How  could  we  then  expect  that 
the  Uruguayan  railroads,  which  are  under  British  control,  should  order  their  rails 
from  the  United  States,  or  the  electric  tramways,  which  are  in  the  hands  of  Germans, 
their  electric  supplies  from  this  country,  unless  advantages  of  a  most  extraordinary 
character  were  to  be  realized  by  them  when  doing  so  ?  There  is  plenty  of  chance  to 


122 


invest  capital  securely  and  to  good  profit  in  South  America,  and  if  the  Americans  only 
were  to  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunities  existing  trade  would  naturaly  ensue 
as  a  positively  unavoidable  consequence. 

As  has  been  stated  briefly  before,  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  individual 
countries  and  their  characteristics  is  indispensable,  and  this,  of  course,  means  also  a 
thorough  study  of  the  possibilities,  of  the  requirements,  of  the  predominating  predi- 
lections on  the  part  of  the  prospective  consumer;  in  short,  a  study  of  what  we  term 
shortly  "the  markets."  I  am  convinced  that  no  better  investment  can  be  made  by  the 
individual  exporter  than  to  send  young,  energetic,  enthusiastic  salesmen  to  the  various 
countries  of  South  America,  men  that  have  a  fair  knowledge  of  the  Spanish,  or,  as 
the  case  may  be,  the  Portuguese  language ;  men  that  have  thorough  confidence  in  the 
superiority  of  the  goods  they  are  going  to  sell — it  being,  of  course,  understood  that  the 
goods  must  be  such  as  are  adapted  to  meet  the  needs  or  the  wishes  of  the  future  pur- 
chaser— and  not  goods  that  the  manufacturer  wishes  to  dump  merely  upon  those  new 
markets ;  and  if  the  manufacturer  knows  how  to  secure  and  to  send  out  such  traveling 
salesmen  as  I  have  described,  positive  and  gratifying  results  are  sure  to  come! 
•  Amongst  all  the  traveling  salesmen  that  came  back  from  Uruguay,  not  one  is  known 
to  me  to  have  regretted  his  trip.  When  the  American  exporters  have  in  this  manner 
become  thoroughly  familiar  through  competent  reports  secured  at  the  sources  with 
the  solvency  of  the  individual  houses  and  know  the  credit  that  the  commerce  of  each 
country  is  entitled  to,  having  formed  a  correct  idea  of  the  stability  and  reliability  of 
these  markets,  then  I  say  they  will  be  willing  to  increase  also  in  an  appropriate  man- 
ner the  facilities  for  payment — a  thing  they  so  far  have  been  very  unwilling  to  do — 
and  will  also  in  this  respect  be  on  a  parity  with  their  European  competitor  and  may 
then  look  confidently  forward  to  a  rapid  increase  in  their  sales.  And  while  referring 
to  credit  and  solvency,  which  must  be  based  on  confidence,  I  would  profit  by  this 
opportunity  to  call  the  particular  attention  of  the  manufacturers  to  the  absolute  neces- 
sity which  exists  of  selecting  only  representatives  that  are  reliable  beyond  doubt  in 
this,  their  own  country.  There  is  no  question  but  that  the  great  majority  of  them 
are  honorable  persons,  but  there  are  exceptions  from  this  rule,  and  while  being  excep- 
tions they  nevertheless  are  liable  to  produce  an  immense  damage  to  the  relations  that 
should  bind  Northern  and  Southern  countries  for  the  very  fact  that,  after  all,  com- 
mercial honesty  is  of  transcendental  importance.  I  will  quote  an  example:  One  of 
my  countrymen,  a  merchant  of  limited  means,  having  read  an  advertisement  in  one 
of  the  magazines  purchased  of  the  representative  of  an  American  house,  a  merry-go- 
round.  This  agent  here  received  the  amount  that  was  sent  him  in  a  bank  draft, 
cashed  the  draft,  used  up  the  money  and  shipped  nothing.  The  matter  is  now  in  the 
hands  of  the  courts,  the  agent  in  question  will  without  doubt  undergo  a  corresponding 
punishment,  but  all  that  does  not  help  in  the  least  my  countryman  who  has  given 
good  cash  to  an  American  industry  without  getting  anything  for  his  good  money. 
The  factory  "washes  its  hands"  of  it,  and  tells  him  to  come  to  some  understanding 
with  its  representative.  Very  unfortunately,  this  is  not  the  only  case  of  its  kind  that 
has  come  to  my  official  notice. 

Inasmuch  as  practical  results  are  to  be  brought  about  by  the  present  meeting, 
a  few  more  practical  examples,  although  they  seem,  perhaps,  somewhat  commonplace, 
would  not  be  out  of  place,  especially  so  as,  if  only  the  manufacturers  will  be  guided 
by  them,  they  are  sure  of  being  conducive  to  good  and  satisfactory  results. 

While  on  the  whole  purchasers  are  willing  to  make  payment  in  full  against 
presentation  of  sight  draft  attached  to  documents  when  purchasing  raw  material  in 
South  America,  several  cases  have  come  to  my  knowledge  where  business  along  the 
River  Plate  regions  had  become  impossible  because  the  American  importer  was  only 
willing  to  pay  75  to  80  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  the  goods,  the  balance  to  be  paid  after 
examination  of  the  goods  and  after  finding  them  as  desired.  Now,  they  felt  rather 
upset  when  these  terms  were  not  accepted,  while  the  South  American  exporter  felt 
that  his^refusal  was  justified,  as  the  European  importer  was  always  willing  to  pay  in 
full  against  documents,  and  opined  that  the  nature  of  business  and  human  nature  as 
well  would  furnish  a  strong  inducement  whereby  the  American  importer  might  seek 
an  undue  profit.  To  me  it  appears  necessary  that  the  American  importer  should  in 
such  cases  adapt  himself  to  existing  usages,  especially  as  there  are  plenty  of  honest 
people  _to  be  found  in  the  River  Plate  regions  who  will  carefully  examine  the  quality 
and  reject  what  is  not  up  to  the  standard  agreed  upon. 

In  this  connection  I  will  mention  two  concrete  examples  of  how  important  it 
is  that  the  American  exporter  should  follow  instructions  strictly.  A  dealer  in  one  of 
the  Central  American  States  ordered  shoes  from  an  American  manufacturer,  pre- 
123 


scribing  that  the  goods  should  be  packed  not  in  cases,  but  in  bags.  Instead  of  simply 
complying  with  these  instructions,  the  American  manufacturer  reasoned  that  the 
dealer  did  not  know  his  business,  and  that  shoes  should  come  that  way,  and  that  he 
would  be  served  much  better  if  they  came  in  cases,  with  the  final  result  that  the  Cen- 
tral American  dealer  had  to  pay  a  much  greater  amount  of  duties  than  he  had  counted 
upon  paying,  and  was  thoroughly  disgusted.  Moreover,  he  deducted  the  difference 
paid  in  excess  when  settling  the  bill,  and  this  again  annoyed  the  American  manufac- 
turer. Now,  who  was  wrong  in  the  case— surely  the  party  that  disregarded  explicit 
instructions.  A  shipment  of  hardware  that  was  destined  to  cross  the  Andes  Moun- 
tains was  ordered  to  come  done  up  in  packages  of  70  kilos.  The  supplier,  thinking 
that  it  would  work  out  disadvantageous^  to  the  purchaser,  shipped  the  goods  in  pack- 
ages of  150  kilos,  as  there  was  a  saving  in  packing;  but  as  the  goods  when  reaching 
their  first  destination  had  to  be  forwarded  on  muleback,  it  was  necessary  to  split  up 
the  packages  and  repack  them,  so  as  to  have  the  requisite  load  for  this  transportation, 
and  again  the  excess  charges  were  deducted  from  the  account  of  the  shipper,  who  on 
his  part  protested  most  vigorously,  while,  after  all,  he  was  the  one  to  blame,  shipping 
contrary  to  instructions,  and  while  in  both  cases  the  American  exporters  meant  well, 
they  lost  the  customers,  as  they  had  lost  confidence  and  were  afraid  that  also  in  the 
future  their  instructions  would  be  disregarded. 

Much  more  cheerful  is,  however,  the  aspect  in  the  following  case,  especially  so 
as  it  shows  in  a  remarkably  clear  light  what  can  be  accomplished  and  the  splendid 
results  secured  by  an  American  house.  An  American  exporter,  not  satisfied  with  the 
results  reached  by  his  firm  in  the  Orient,  decided  to  devote  his  interest  to  the  exporta- 
tion to  South  America.  After  obtaining  brief  but  reliable  information  from  reliable 
sources,  one  of  the  partners  went  to  South  America,  and  he  visited  at  that  time,  about 
four  years  ago,  Brazil,  Uruguay,  the  Argentine  Republic  and  Chile.  He  picked  out 
the  houses  with  which  he  thought  he  might  best  do  business  in  the  future,  sold  them 
bills  of  goods  and  netted  $1500.  Having  spent  $2500  on  the  trip,  he  was  out  $1000, 
but  he  had  been  so  careful  in  filling  his  orders  and  had  given  stringent  orders  to  his 
firm  "that  they  were  to  fill  all  orders  strictly  as  specified,"  that  repeat  orders  came  in 
with  surprising  speed.  Only  last  week  this  same  gentleman  came  to  see  me  in  my 
office  and  told  me  that  although  he  had  not  struck  as  yet  the  balance  for  last  year,  he 
was  certain  that  he  had  realized  a  profit  of  some  $27,000  in  his  business  with  South 
America.  He  added  that  he  would  shortly  go  to  South  America  again  for  the  pur- 
pose of  conceding  greater  facilities  to  his  customers  and  increase  considerably  his 
shipments  there,  and  he  stated,  moreover,  that  it  was  his  intention  to  abandon  entirely 
his  business  with  the  Orient  and  devote  himself  instead  exclusively  to  business  with 
South  America. 

And  success  of  this  kind,  well  earned  and  well  merited,  need  by  no  means  be  an 
isolated  case.  On  the  contrary. 

As  this  case  is,  moreover,  a  splendid  illustration  of  a  foregoing  assertion,  I 
may  say,  in  short,  that  the  praiseworthy  assistance  from  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment, the  Pan  American  Union  and  other  institutions  of  a  commercial  character, 
represent  powerful  factors  indeed  which  I  see  every  reason  to  congratulate  you  upon 
sincerely  and  unreservedly,  but  they  must  count  also  upon  the  individual  efforts  of 
the  American  exporters  and  manufacturers  if  their  endeavors  are  to  be  crowned  with 
complete  success  and  if  the  goal  of  the  United  States  Government  and  the  Pan  Amer- 
ican Union  is  to  be  reached. 

For  these  reasons  I  would  add  to  the  saying  so  frequently  quoted  when  con- 
templated improvements  in  navigation  matters  are  being  discussed,  viz.,  that  "trade 
follows  the  flag,"  the  following:  "The  success  of  the  American  export  trade  is  in 
direct  proportion  to  the  individual  effort  displayed." 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  are  to* have  one  more  brief  address.  It  will 
only  take  a  few  minutes  to  hear  from  Mr.  Alfredo  Metz  Green,  Consul  of  Uruguay. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  ALFREDO  METZ  GREEN, 
CONSUL  FROM  URUGUAY,  IN  NEW  YORK 

Mr.  GREEN  said : 

Gentlemen:    Considering  the  questions  of  the  hour,  I  have  noticed  that  of  late 
n°°s     exported  by  this  country  have  been  greatly  improved  both  in  quality 

124 


In  the  South  American  republics  today  American  goods  are  appreciated  much 
more  than  they  were  formerly.  Some  years  ago,  it  must  be  confessed,  American 
goods  had  a  bad  reputation.  It  seemed  to  us  that  the  merchants  had  determined 
to  send  us  only  those  goods  which  were  not  accepted  by  their  own  consumers  or  by 
European  merchants. 

This  may  have  happened  through  knowing  so  little  about  our  republics.  Their 
knowledge  of  us  was  completely  erroneous  as  shown  by  the  statistics  of  the  illus- 
trious Senator  Elihu  Root  after  his  visit  to  our  countries.  Perhaps  they  were  at  that 
time  indifferent  to  conquering  our  markets  on  account  of  the  enormous  demand 
for  the  goods  in  their  own  country — demand  which  was  greater  than  the  supply  and 
with  better  results  as  to  prices.  At  present,  however,  the  situation  in  this  market 
is  completely  changed.  The  cost  of  living  is  high,  and  purchasers  only  buy  what  is 
absolutely  necessary.  Factories  are  increasing  and  competition  is  great  as  similar 
goods  are  introduced  from  other  countries.  Certain  it  is  that  manufacturers  need 
an  outlet  for  their  products,  and  their  gaze  is  now  fixed  on  South  America,  where, 
without  doubt  of  any  kind,  there  is  a  large  field  for  their  commerce. 

Naturally,  to  enter  these  markets  the  manufacturer  understands  that  his 
articles  must  compete  in  quality  and  price  with  similar  ones  introduced  from  Ger- 
many, England,  France,  Italy,  etc. 

This  explains  why  manufacturers  are  always  anxious  to  improve  their  prod- 
ucts. I  state  with  sincerity  that  the  American  goods  can  and  should  compete  with 
the  European. 

Nevertheless,  there  is  one  impediment  which,  in  my  judgment,  will  prevent  this 
conquest ;  that  is,  unless  the  American  merchant  considers  the  matter  well  and  makes 
a  radical  change  in  his  manner  of  doing  business.  I  refer  to  the  credit.  The  mer- 
chant of  this  country  has  always  acted  on  the  cash  system.  His  products  are  often, 
and  I  will  say  generally,  paid  for  before  leaving  the  factory  to  be  shipped.  This 
system  is  not  accepted  in  South  America. 

The  merchants  of  these  republics  are  accustomed  to  buy  on  90  days'  credit, 
without  including  the  30  days  for  the  arrival  of  the  goods  and  the  30  days  before 
receiving  the  payment  or  draft,  which  makes  in  all  150  days'  credit,  with  6  per  cent, 
interest. 

Germany,  for  example,  is  the  most  liberal  in  her  credits.  There  are  German 
manufacturers  who  give  from  six  to  nine  months'  credit,  especially  those  who  deal 
in  dry  goods  and  furniture  for  bazars. 

The  reason  for  giving  such  credit  is  easily  explained.  The  European  manu- 
facturer has  full  confidence  in  the  South  American  merchant.  Besides,  he  knows 
that  as  soon  as  his  merchandise  is  shipped,  for  these  markets,  he  can  have  their 
value  discounted  in  any  bank,  sure  that  he  will  not  be  exposed  to  lose  one  cent. 

The  South  American  merchant  is  generally  honest.  They  are  universally 
renowned  for  their  honesty,  and  this  is  well  known  to  the  merchants  of  the  United 
States.  Of  course,  as  everywhere,  there  are  sometimes  exceptions,  but  1  must  say 
that  in  these  countries  such  exceptions  are  rare.  I  will  quote,  for  example,  the 
Republic  of  Uruguay,  which  I  have  the  honor  of  representing  in  New  York  in  my 
character  of  Consul.  In  my  country,  I  can  assure  you,  without  fear  of  being  contra- 
dicted, that  we  have  a  commerce  which  glories  in  its  honesty. 

In  many  cases  merchants  there  who  have  had  bad  results  in  business  have 
been  known  to  deprive  themselves  of  everything  in  order  to  pay  the  integral  of  their 
debts,  and  commenced  anew  to  recover  the  capital  which  they  had  lost  after  20  or 
more  years  of  struggle.  This,  indeed,  is  honesty. 

To  give  an  idea  of  the  good  faith  and  honesty  of  the  merchant  of  Uruguay, 
I  will  only  say  that  failure  is  rare  in  that  country,  and  when  it  occurs  it  surely  is 
that  he  is  really  obliged  to  arrive  at  this  extreme  on  account  of  the  bad  state  of 
business. 

When  the  agreements  are  signed  they  are  usually  to  the  advantage  of  the 
creditor,  as  in  most  cases  the  arrangements  are  made  on  a  basis  of  70  and  even  80 
per  cent.,  and  even  these  are  the  lesser  or  small  merchants,  who  buy  from  the  im- 
porters and  whose  capital  never  exceeds  $10,000  to  $15,000. 

I  have  not  come  here  to  praise  the  merchants  of  my  country,  but  only  to 
make  it  evident  that  our  business  is  of  the  most  solid,  and  merits,  therefore,  that 
the  American  merchant  should  place  more  confidence  in  us  than  he  has  had  here- 
tofore. Otherwise,  he  can  never  conquer  the  republics  of  South  America. 

What  is  also  required  to  befriend,  or  support,  this  commercial  current 
between  the  United  States  and  South  America  is  the  American  bank  so  to  make  it 

125 


easy  for  the  manufacturer  to  extend  his  credit  to  the  merchant  so  that  it  should  not 
be  necessary  for  the  manufacturer  to  demand  payment  for  the  goods  before  the 
purchaser  has  had  an  opportunity  to  examine  them. 

The  American,  being  in  competition  with  the  German,  English  and  other 
European  manufacturers,  who  with  pleasure  facilitate  credit,  and  sometimes  con- 
siderable credit,  it  is  evident  that  the  former  cannot  hope  to  realize  the  sale  of  his 
merchandise  unless  it  is  superior  in  quality  and  price  to  the  similar  European  goods. 

Many  American  goods  are  cheaper  than  the  English  and  German,  and  would 
dominate  the  market  if  presented  in  the  proper  manner. 

«.  American  houses  should  send  agents  to  South  America  as  the  Germans  do, 
provided  with  samples,  and  not  try  to  sell  by  means  of  catalogues  written  in  English, 
and  generally  badly  translated  into  Spanish,  which  are  ridiculed  by  those  who  receive 
them. 

Before  concluding  I  would  like  to  refer  to  the  bad  faith  of  some  American 
manufacturers,  which  tends  to  injure  the  general  commerce  of  this  country. 

I  have  known  many  cases  in  which  the  South  American  merchant  has  bought 
goods  through  the  catalogues,  and  the  articles  which  were  sent  to  him  were  entirely 
different  to  those  he  wished  to  buy.  Notwithstanding  the  protests  and  the  pleas  for 
redress  which  these  merchants  make,  the  seller  pays  no  attention,  and  finally  we, 
the  Consuls,  are  requested  to  intervene  in  these  cases,  and  usually  without  any  result. 

Of  course,  with  this  system  80  or  90  per  cent,  may  be  gained  instead  of  being 
satisfied  with  10  or  15  per  cent.  The  result  is  that  they  lose  their  custom  and  their 
reputation  amongst  the  merchants  of  these  republics.  Besides,  it  is  exceedingly 
detrimental  to  honest  merchants  of  this  country. 

This  is  an  important  matter,  which  should  with  efficiency  be  set  right  in  order 
to  gain  the  entire  confidence  of  our  business  men. 

QUESTION:    Are  there  any  electrical  developments  in  Uruguay? 

MR.  GREEN:  We  have  lots  of  electrical  lines,  but  electricity  for  industries 
is  not  very  far  ahead.  I  think  there  is  a  chance  for  electricity  there,  and  that  if  you 
study  the  business  it  will  bring  you  money.  I  am  sure  of  it. 

QUESTION  :    I  would  like  to  ask  about  the  schools  of  Brazil. 

BISHOP  KINSOLVING  :  I  can  only  say  that  the  President  of  Brazil,  of  blessed 
memory,  said  that  the  whole  school  of  one  of  the  most  advanced  States  of  Brazil 
was  benefited  and  uplifted  by  the  presence  of  those  American  schools.  I  will  say  I 
have  nothing  personally  to  do  with  those  American  schools.  They  have  been  estab- 
lished by  the  Methodist  and  Presbyterian  churches,  and  I  think  they  deserve  the  high 
encomium  of  the  late  President  of  Brazil. 

QUESTION  :    What  language  do  they  speak  in  Uruguay. 

MR.  GREEN:    Spanish. 

BISHOP  KINSOLVING:   We  speak  Portuguese  in  Brazil. 

MR.  WICKWIRE:  I  would  like  to  know  if  they  have  colleges  in  Brazil  for  the 
study  of  electrical  engineering. 

MR.  GREEN:  One  of  the  departments  is  polytechnic  in  Rio,  and  we  have 
engineering,  too. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  want  in  that  respect  to  state  that  it  is  not 
often  known  that  they  had  a  university  of  a  thousand  students  in  Lima,  Peru,  one 
hundred  years  before  Harvard  was  founded.  And  I  have  seen  the  distinguished 
Minister  of  Colombia,  Dr.  Borda,  address  a  thousand  young  men  in  the  university 
of  that  country — the  National  University — that  I  would  put  up  against  any  thousand 
young  men  that  you  would  get  together  in  any  university  in  the  United  States.  And 
I  want  to  tell  you  that  the  law  that  he  discusses  before  those  men  would  be  worthy 
of  the  law  of  our  highest  legal  institutions  of  this  country. 

BISHOP  KINSOLVING:  One  of  the  greatest  authorities  on  Spanish  in  this  coun- 
try, who  has  given  the  great  Spanish  Library  to  the  city  of  New  York,  Mr.  Hunting- 
ton,  after  long  years  in  Spain,  visited  South  America  and  said  that  the  purest  Cas- 
tilian  on  earth  today  is  spoken  in  Peru. 

MR.  MASSEY:  We  have  had  a  good  deal  of  talk  about  salesmanship,  and  I 
think  you  really  have  to  catch  a  man  through  a  salesman  to  make  you  successful 
selling  goods,  and  I  should  like  to  know  what  the  opinion  of  those  is  who  know 
if  you  do  better  to  go  to  South  America  and  catch  the  natural-born  salesman  who 
is  a  Latin  and  familiarize  him  with  the  North  American  goods,  or  take  the 
North  American  who  is  already  familiar  with  the  goods  and  familiarize  him  with 
the  Latin  American. 

126 


DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  That  is  a  very  good  question.  I  will  ask  Mr. 
Santamarina  to  answer  it. 

MR.  SANTAMARINA:  In  South  America  we  breed  some  very  good  salesmen, 
but  we  find  that  the  man  who  comes  from  the  factory  and  has  been  educated  there 
into  the  details  of  the  business  will  better  know  the  manufactured  goods  he  is- 
endeavoring  to  sell,  and  much  better  than  our  natives  could,  and  I  would  strongly 
advise  you  if  you  do  send  a  salesman  to  send  a  good  one  and  let  him  understand 
his  business  thoroughly,  and  that  knowledge  you  cannot  so  well  convey  to  any  other 
country's  expert.  It  is  necessary  in  my  opinion  to  get  the  right  men  at  the  end 
down  there  to  do  the  demonstration.  I  have  seen  over  and  over  again  traveling 
salesmen  representing  American  and  other  countries,  and  representing  them  well 
as  salesmen  from  the  talking  point  of  view,  yet  there  were  many  facts  attached  to 
'the  goods  that  our  native  salesmen  did  not  comprehend,  and  that  was  just  the 
selling  point,  and  they  lost  the  order.  My  final  advice  is  to  send  men  down  there 
who  know  their  business  thoroughly. 

MR.  MAHONY:  The  question  of  the  Spanish  language,  and  I  address  my 
question  to  Mr.  Santamarina  because  he  mentioned  the  difference  between  the 
Spanish  of  Argentina  and  that  generally  known  as  Castillian  Spanish,  and  that 
would  be  intelligible  to  the  Argentine  Spaniard,  so  to  speak.  Of  course,  those 
manufacturers  of  the  United  States  who  have  been  covering  the  whole  field  where 
Spanish  is  spoken  could  not  maintain  a  staff,  where  they  do  maintain  a  staff  at  all, 
which  would  be  competent  to  place  their  literature  in  the  vernacular  of  any  par- 
ticular country,  or  all  countries,  and  I  would  like  to  have  asked  this  question :  If  a 
catalogue  is  properly  written  in  the  Spanish,  that  is,  anything  is  put  into  the  Spanish 
language  by  an  American  merely  possessing  that  language  and  edited  by  a  native 
Spanish  scholar,  if  that  could  not  pass  current  in  any  country  in  any  of  the  Pan 
American  republics  where  Spanish  is  spoken? 

MR.  SANTAMARINA  :  Well,  I  give  a  great  deal  of  importance  to  the  publication 
of  catalogues,  and  I  am  sorry  I  have  had  so  little  time  to  speak  of  the  South  Amer- 
ican and  the  Spanish  of  Latin  America,  and  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  go  into 
all  the  features  of  the  catalogues,  because  it  takes  a  study.  It  is  a  fact  that  export 
life  has  become  so  intense  that  it  is  a  science  and  you  have  got  to  make  it  a  study. 
Consequently,  the  making  and  the  compiling  of  a  catalogue  deserves  much  considera- 
tion. I  will  tell  you  a  personal  experience.  I  have  had  firms  in  the  United  States 
wishing  to  get  out  a  Spanish  catalogue,  and  they  will  get  any  sort  of  a  translator, 
just  in  order  to  save  expense,  to  make  the  translation.  If  a  merchant  has  goods 
he  wishes  to  sell,  we  should  be  able  to  see  the  quality  of  it  in  the  catalogues.  It 
will  not  do  to  ask  a  mechanical  engineer  to  translate  for  an  electrical  catalogue, 
because  he  won't  know  the  electrical  terms.  You  want  to  get  electrical  specialists 
for  that  work. 

As  regards  the  kind  of  Spanish,  keep  to  the  pure  Castilian  as  much  as  you 
can ;  let  us  learn  and  teach  pure  Spanish,  and  not  slang. 

With  respect  to  salesmen,  it  is  not  necessary  for  them  to  have  a  perfect  knowl- 
edge of  the  Spanish  language.  I  have  had  the  experience,  as  you  may  have  had 
yourself,  that  we  of  South  America  pay  greater  respect  to  a  man  that  has  some 
little  understanding  of  the  language,  and  you  will  listen  to  him  with  greater  attention 
and  have  more  feeling  for  him  than  if  he  is  a  perfect  Latin  scholar.  If  the  American 
comes  to  us  and  does  not  speak  our  language  very  clearly,  we  pay  better  attention 
to  him  than  to  the  man  that  has  the  knowledge  of  our  language.  I  will  give  you 
an  example.  I  know  an  advertising  agent  in  Buenos  Aires  who  knows  how  to 
smoke  a  good  cigar,  and  he  is  an  American,  by  the  way,  but  he  hardly  speaks  Span- 
ish, and  he  has  an  interpreter,  and  when  he  meets  you  he  can  only  say,  "How  do 
you  do,"  and  that  is  the  way  he  is.  That  is  the  way  you  can  get  our  orders,  say, 
"How  do  you  do."  The  well-to-do  and  the  up-to-date  commercial  people  in  the 
older  republics  you  will  find  at  least  60  per  cent,  that  speak  good  enough  English 
to  wish  you  well. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  We  will  adjourn  for  this  morning  in  a  moment. 
Is  there  any  other  important  question  in  regard  to  Brazil?  Mr.  Brownell,  we  have 
had  quite  a  period  on  Brazil,  and  you  were  absent. 

MR.  BROWNELL  :  A  number  of  years  ago,  say  about  fifteen,  I  had  a  very  inter- 
esting talk  with  Mr.  William  E.  Curtis,  who  had  been  through  Brazil,  and  he  raised 
this  question  about  the  packing  of  our  goods,  which  was  not  in  conformity  with  the 
wishes  of  the  people  down  there.  I  would  like  to  ask  any  gentleman  from  Brazil 

127 


whether  in  that  time,  in  the  fifteen  years,  there  has  been  any  distinct  advance  made 
in  the  question  of  packing  goods  to  suit  the  necessities  of  the  people  of  Brazil 
particularly. 

MR.  RAPOS.O  :    American  manufacturers  are  improving  every  day. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  In  regard  to  the  lunch  given  to  the  conference 
today  by  the  Board  of  Trade  and  Chamber  of  Commerce  at  the  New  Ebbitt  Hotel, 
this  vote  of  thanks  has  been  proposed : 

RESOLUTION 

WHEREAS,  The  delegates  to  the  Pan  American  Commercial  Conference  were 
the  guests  of  the  Washington  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Board  of  Trade  at  a 
luncheon  given  today,  February  15,  1911,  in  the  New  Ebbitt  Hotel,  and 

WHEREAS,  The  members  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Board  of  Trade 
have  shown  great  interest  in  their  visit  to  Washington  and  endeavored  to  make  their 
stay  a  pleasant  one,  therefore, 

Be  it  resolved,  That  the  delegates  to  the  conference  express  their  appreciation 
of  the  luncheon  tendered  them,  and  of  the  hospitable  treatment  which  they  have  been 
accorded. 

Be  it  further  resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  forwarded  to  the 
respective  presidents  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Board  of  Trade,  with  the 
request  that  they  be  transmitted  to  the  boards  of  directors  of  the  two  organizations. 

The  adoption  of  the  resolutions  was  duly  moved  and  seconded,  and  upon  being 
put  was  carried  unanimously. 

Thereupon,  at  5.45  o'clock  P.  M.,  the  conference  adjourned  until  tomorrow 
morning. 


128 


THURSDAY,  FEBRUARY   16  — MORNING  SESSION 

The  Conference  was  called  to  order  at  9.35  o'clock  A.  M.,  by  Di- 
rector General  Barrett. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL-BARRETT:  I  have  a  most  gratifying  announcement  to  make 
this  morning,  incident  to  which  I  am  a  little  delayed  in  arriving,  and  that  is  that 
tomorrow  morning  at  10  o'clock  we  will  have  the  honor  of  being  addressed  by  the 
foremost  Pan  American,  Senator  Elihu  Root.  I  personally  went  to  see  him  this 
morning,  and  conveyed  to  him  the  action  of  the  conference  yesterday,  which  pleased 
him  very  much ;  and,  although  he  is  rushed  to  the  very  limit  at  the  present  time,  he 
said  he  would  be  here  possibly  at  10  o'clock  tomorrow  morning  and  say  a  few  words 
to  the  conference,  show  his  sympathy  with  the«work  and  his  interest  in  it,  and  I  hope 
all  of  you  will  make  it  a  point  to  be  here,  and  seeing  that  the  representatives  of  the 
countries  are  here  to  hear  what  he  may  say,  because  no  one  can  overestimate  the 
good  he  has  done- in  making  North  and  South  America  better  acquainted. 

I  am  going  to  start  off  this  morning  with  some  remarks  by  Hon.  Julius  Lay, 
Consul  General  of  the  United  States  to  Rio  de  Janeiro,  who  has  also  had  extended 
experience  elsewhere,  who  will  speak  ten  minutes  and  then  be  glad  to  answer  any 
questions  that  you  may  ask  him. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  JULIUS  G.  LAY,  U.  S.  CONSUL 
GENERAL  IN  RIO  DE  JANEIRO 

Mr.  LAY  said: 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen:  1  have  not  attempted  to  prepare  a  comprehen- 
sive review  of  the  trade  of  Brazil,  which  you  will  find  with  complete  statistics  in  the 
excellent  publications  issued  by  the  Pan  American  Union  and  in  the  Consular  Reports, 
but  shall  make  a  few  suggestions  as  to  our  opportunities  of  increasing  our  trade  with 
Brazil,  developed  as  a  result  of  my  brief  service  at  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

With  the  facts  obtained  from  the  publication  mentioned  regarding  the  wealth 
of  Brazil  and  the  bright  prospects  of  its  steady  development,  and  bearing  in  mind  that 
very  few  of  the  wants  of  the  people  are  manufactured  in  the  country,  and  goods  to 
the  value  of  $179,690,000  were  imported  in  1909,  or  $37,500,000  more  than  in  the  year 
1905,  we  can  get  an  idea  of  the  opportunities  afforded  to  the  foreign  manufacturers 
at  the  present  time,  and  what  can  be  anticipated.  The  extension  of  railways,  too,  is  a 
good  barometer.  The  total  railway  mileage  of  the  country  in  1909  was  12,183  rniles. 

The  Brazilian  Government  fully  appreciates  the  necessity  of  building  railways 
to  develop  the  enormously  rich  resources  of  the  country,  and,  according  to  the  last 
annual  message  of  the  President  of  Brazil,  the  railway  mileage  was  increased  1477 
miles  during  1910.  This  is  a  great  field  for  our  railway  supplies  and  also  for  our 
capitalists. 

Steel  importations  in  1909,  consisting  of  rods,  iron  bars,  plates,  sheet  iron  for 
building  purposes,  structural  iron,  etc.,  amounted  to  $3,000,000,  which  came  from  the 
United  Kingdom,  Belgium  and  France.  Our  trade  in  1910,  however,  has  doubled. 
The  United  States  Steel  Corporation  has  just  established  a  branch  house  in  Rio. 
The  Standard  Oil  Co.'s  confidence  in  the  future  of  Brazil  has  also  recently  been  shown 
in  the  same  way. 

Weaving  mills,  cottonseed-oil  factories  and  sugar  refineries  are  springing  up  in 
almost  every  State,  and  a  few  iron  foundries  are  to  be  found  in  many  parts  of  the 
country.  Most  of  the  small  cotton  factories  around  Rio  are  now  driven  by  electric 
motor  power.  These  factories  will  create  an  increased  demand  for  electrical  and 
industrial  machinery. 

Brazil  is  a  splendid  field  for  hardware  of  all  kinds,  but  we  are  not  doing  as 
good  a  trade  in  some  lines  as  we  should. 

American  cement  should  have  a  great  sale  in  Brazil,  with  a  preferential  of  20 
per  cent,  on  customs  duties  which  the  American  product  has  enjoyed  since  the  begin- 

129 


ECUADOR 


ning  of  1910,  and  American  shipments  amounted  to  only  $2000  as  against  over  $1,000,- 
ooo  from  other  countries  during  the  first  six  months  of  1910. 

The  increase  in  imports  of  American  machinery  of  all  kinds  into  Brazil  for  the 
first  six  months  of  1910  amounted  to  $800,000.  _ 

These  are  only  a  few  of  the  opportunities  for  our  manufacturers  in  this  great 

Now,  let  us  examine  pur  position  in  Brazil  today.  The  United  States  enjoys 
a  fairly  good  trade,  amounting  now  to  $22,265,534  in  1909,  as  against  $14,716,425  in 
1905  and  the  statistics  show  that  our  percental  share  as  compared  to  other  countries 
has  increased  more  rapidly,  and  we  have  kept  pace  with  the  general  increase.  This 
increase  in  American  trade  in  Brazil  has  been  secured  in  the  face  of  keenest  competi- 
tion, and  the  improvement  is  due,  more  than  anything  else,  to  sending  more  intelli- 
gent representatives  to  Brazil  to  arrange  good  selling  connections.  ^  One  of  the  best 
indications  of  our  increased  interest  in  the  Brazilian  market  is  the  gain  made  in  goods 
classed  as  manufactures,  which  increased  from  $9,868,865  in  1905  to  $15,701,206  in 
1909,  notwithstanding  a  loss  shown  in  cotton  goods  of  $600,000  during  the  same  period. 

This  is  not  a  bad  showing,  considering  the  many  disadvantages  we  work  under 
in  Brazil. 

The  chief  hindrance  to  a  material  extension  of  our  trade  is,  first,  the  strong, 
permanent  influence  of  European  capital  invested  in  the  best  Brazilian  industrial 
undertakings,  which  receive  most  of  their  supplies  from  Europe.  Let  me  give  you  an 
example  of  one  of  our  neglected  opportunities :  Last  October  the  Brazilian  Govern- 
ment asked  for  bids  from  all  countries  on  harbor  work  at  Fortaliza,  to  cost  $5,000,000, 
but  none  were  submitted  by  our  contractors.  One  or  two  such  contracts  would  do 
our  trade  more  good  than  anything  else,  even  more  than  the  preferential  tariff  con- 
cessions now  granted.  As  someone  rightly  put  it,  "Trade  doesn't  follow  the  flag,  it 
follows  the  loan." 

Of  course,  we  are  at  a  disadvantage  in  not  having  a  first-class  fast  American 
steamship  line  to  Brazil.  Such  a  line  would  mean  an  efficient  mail  service,  instead 
of  the  unsatisfactory  one  which  at  present  exists.  It  would  encourage  South  Amer- 
icans to  visit  the  United  States,  and  thus  give  them  a  better  understanding  of  our 
resources,  and  it  would  send  more  of  our  people  to  South  America  to  see  for  them- 
selves the  opportunities  there  for  investment,  and  to  study  the  wants  of  the  people. 

An  American  bank  would,  like  a  steamship  line,  also  greatly  facilitate  business 
with  Brazil  and  develop  American  investments,  provided  a  banker  can  be  found  with 
available  surplus  capital  to  start  it. 

But  all  these  so-called  obstacles  to  trade  with  South  America  do  not  compare 
with  the  biggest  obstacle  of  all :  Ignorance  or  indifference  to  our  opportunities.  I 
do  not  wish  to  infer  that  some  of  our  exporters  do  not  know  their  business.  On  the 
contrary,  there  are  American  firms  doing  business  in  South  America  today  who  cannot 
be  taught  anything  by  their  European  competitors,  but  how  many  are  there?  They 
can  be  counted  on  your  fingers,  and,  gentlemen,  these  are  the  firms  who  have  increased 
our  trade  with  Brazil  $7,000,000  in  the  last  five  years ;  not  in  non-competitive  goods  or 
raw  products,  but  in  manufactures.  These  firms  are  not  afraid  to  meet  the  compe- 
tition of  Europe,  nor  are  they  deterred  by  prosperous  conditions  at  home.  Some  of 
our  manufacturers  in  the  United  States  have,  even  during  times  when  their  factories 
were  occupied  with  domestic  orders,  turned  their  serious  attention  to  the  export  busi- 
ness, and  have,  instead  of  spasmodically  seeking  foreign  trade  only  when  times  were 
bad,  always  given  priority  to  their  export  orders.  There  is  one  case  I  know  of,  and 
there  are  no  doubt  others,  of  a  concern  in  New  England  keeping  its  factory  going  full 
time  filling  export  orders  during  the  depression  of  three  years  ago,  when  their  com- 
petitors were  closed  down,  because  they  had  worked  up  a  steady  export  business 
during  good  times  in  the  United  States. 

But  we  are  not  here  to  find  out  how  well  a  few  firms  are  doing,  but  how  we 
can  still  further  advance  our  trade  in  Brazil. 

It  is  impossible,  of  course,  to  lay  down  any  rule  which  could  be  followed  suc- 
cessfully by  every  exporter,  but  the  first  step  I  would  suggest  to  the  beginner  in  the 
export  business  is  to  get  definite  information  on  the  field  he  proposes  to  enter  before 
he  undertakes  any  plan  of  campaign.  Some  manufacturers  act  on  inaccurate  advice 
or  no  advice  at  all,  and,  of  course,  fail.  Remember  there  are  two  kinds  of  useful  for- 
eign trade  information,  and  the  difference  must  be  distinguished  between  the  two. 

The  first  class  embraces  statistics  and  information  relating  to  the  general  prin- 
ciples underlying  the  trade  of  the  country  and  suggestions  as  to  the  openings  and  pos- 
sibilities for  new  lines  of  American  goods  not  yet  placed  in  the  particular  market  under 


consideration.    This  information  is  only  suggestive,  and  you  cannot  do  business  on  it. 
The  second  class  of  information  embraces  knowledge  of  not  only  South  America 
in  general,  but  Brazil  in  particular.    It  includes  a  knowledge  of  peculiar  local  condi- 
tions as  they  bear  on  your  particular  line. 

For  example,  I  might  give  you  the  mileage  of  Brazilian  railways,  and  that  in- 
formation might  be  sufficient,  perhaps,  to  determine  the  approximate  business  that  a 
manufacturer  of  certain  railway  supplies  might  reasonably  expect  in  the  United 
States,  but  not  so  with  Brazil.  There  are  miles  of  railway  owned  in  Brazil  by  a 
British  company  that  naturally  purchase  their  equipment  in  England,  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  Government  railways  buy  in  the  open  market.  The  same  condition 
exists  as  to  plumbers'  supplies  and  sanitary  appliances  in  the  city  of  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
where  an  English  company  owns  the  water-works  concession.  This  is  also  true  of 
the  English  flour  mills. 

An  exporter,  to  be  successful,  in  addition  to  his  general  information,  must  have 
this  detailed  information  before  he  enters  the  foreign  field. 

There  are  various  sources  from  which  to  obtain  both  useful,  general  and  defi- 
nite information  about  South  America.  For  first  aid  one  cannot  do  better  than  apply 
to  the  Pan  American  Union,  which  Mr.  Barrett  has  made  such  a  splendid  storehouse 
of  information,  and  to  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  Relations,  Department  of  State  and  to 
the  Bureau  of  Manufactures,  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  here.  Our  con- 
sular service  also  renders  at  the  present  time  valuable  assistance  to  our  exporters, 
but  in  the  majority  of  cases  definite  knowledge  of  a  certain  field,  such  as  ratings  on 
which  you  can  do  business,  is  beyond  the  inherent  limitations  of  the  service,  and  must 
be  obtained  from  banks  and  elsewhere.  There  are  no  commercial  agencies  in  Brazil. 
Having  once  secured  the  necessary  definite  information  in  his  particular  line, 
the  manufacturer  can  decide  whether  the  market  will  pay  him  to  send  a  representative 
to  further  study  the  field  and  make  good  selling  connections.  He  can  then  deciije 
whether  to  send  a  technical  expert  or  determine  whether  the  market  is  worth  the  out- 
lay necessary  to  do  so.  By  all  means  spend  money  on  the  Brazilian  market.  It  is 
worth  it.  Advertise  like  you  do  in  the  United  States.  In  some  cases  advertising 
should  precede  any  steps  toward  exporting  to  South  America,  as  it  will  often  show 
you  that  dealers  are  interested  in  seeing  your  goods.  Our  main  trouble  in  Brazil  is 
lack  of  proper  representation.  Our  trade  suffers  from  not  having  an  American  im- 
porting house  in  Brazil,  one  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  another  at  San  Paulo,  handling 
the  products  of  four  or  five  American  manufacturers  of  hardware  and  machinery. 
These  houses  could  act  as  the  agents  of  our  harbor  works  and  railway  contractors. 
With  a  capital  of  $100,000,  such  a  concern  would  be  successful. 

Five  American  firms  in  non-competing  but  allied  lines  have  for  a  number  of 
years  jointly  employed  a  first-class  traveling  representative,  paying  him  partly  in 
commission  and  partly  in  salary,  who  makes  selling  connections  for  his  principals  on 
the  sole  agency  plan  in  South  America  and  South  Africa.  He  periodically  visits  the 
foreign  houses,  accompanies  the  travelers  occasionally,  visits  sub-agencies  and  in 
other  ways  insures  his  principals  getting  all  the  business  they  are  entitled  to.  If  they 
can  find  a  man  like  this  one,  other  manufacturers  whose  foreign  business  is  small 
should  adopt  this  plan. 

Brazil  does  not  offer  a  market  to  only  those  who  can  afford  to  send  representa- 
tives there.  If  your  business  does  not,  after  going  into  the  question  carefully,  warrant 
such  a  course,  you  must  decide  whether  your  goods  can  be  most  advantageously  sold 
by  an  importing  house  with  the  exclusive  right  to  a  certain  territory  or  through  a 
manufacturing  agent  on  a  commission  basis.  The  tendency,  not  only  abroad  but  in 
this  country  as  well,  is  to  eliminate  the  middleman  more  and  more,  but  whatever  may 
3e  said  against  the  commission  houses,  they  were  the  pioneers  of  our  export  trade, 
id  in  some  countries  as  in  Central  America,  we  could  not  do  business  without  them, 
and  1  doubt  if  we  will  for  many  years. 

We  hear  a  good  deal  about  a  loss  of  trade  in  South  America  because  we  will 

Dt  grant  so-called  credits,  as  do  the  English  and  Germans.    We  undoubtedly  have 

trade  by  demanding  cash  against  documents  in  New  York,  because  our  firms  have 

lot  takei   the  trouble  to  investigate  their  customers,  but  as  far  as  I  can  learn,  British 

itranf  •   "^  °  not  give  op.™  credit  indiscriminately.    The  majoritv  of  them 

the  same  terms  as  our  intelligent  firms  on  the  basis  of  90  days'  draft,  with 

Snrh  a  T  ft****!  Wblch  aTe  dehvered  to  the  consignees  on  acceptance  of  the  draft. 

bv  those  fir™'  Just,  aSi§°°d  ?  f  Promissory  note,  and  they  are  always  paid,  except 

BriHsh  nr  ?!ry        *°Uld  n°u  do.busmess  with  *t  all.    I  do  not  believe  there  are  many 

rman  firms  who  give  open  credit  except  to  very  old-established  firms 

132 


with  whom  they  have  dealt  for  many  years,  and  then  they  charge  interest.  No  doubt 
we  Americans  would  do  the  same  under  similar  circumstances. 

It  is  not  easy  to  find  in  the  United  States  a  good  representative  to  travel  in 
Brazil  and  the  Argentine.  Of  the  large  number  of  American  representatives  who  have 
visited  the  consulate  at  Rio  while  1  was  there,  two  only  spoke  Portuguese.  No  doubt 
in  time  some  of  our  schools  will  teach  some  of  our  boys  Portuguese  and  our  firms 
will  send  young  men  to  South  America  as  apprentices  to  learn  the  language  and  meet 
the  people.  Until  then  we  shall  find  difficulty  in  finding  American  salesmen  like  the 
Germans.  It  has  occurred  to  me  that  Chambers  of  Commerce  might  offer  a  scholar- 
ship to  schools  that  would  induce  young  men  to  go  abroad  to  serve  one  or  two  years. 

Now,  a  word  about  our  foreign  service  in  South  America.  As  Mr.  Wilson  ex- 
plained yesterday,  the  diplomats  are  creating  conditions  to  make  sales  possible.  We 
consuls  are  endeavoring  to  make  friends  with  the  merchants  of  South  America  and 
to  keep  in  touch  with  trade  opportunities.  Many  of  our  officers  are  spending  their 
time  in  the  United  States  meeting  manufacturers  and  learning  what  is  so  essential — 
the  American  business  man's  point  of  view  of  the  export  business  and  what  he  wants. 
We  appreciate  the  splendid  efforts  you  are  making  to  keep  the  service  intact,  and  we 
are  trying  to  show  you  our  gratitude  by  rendering  you  efficient,  practical  assistance. 
I  hope  when  you  come  to  Brazil  you  will  be  sure  to  come  to  the  Consulate  General 
there,  and  I  will  tell  you  more  than  I  have  today. 

MR.  ENRIGHT  :  Is  there  any  means  of  getting  into  Matto  Grosso  without  going 
around  Montevideo  into  the  interior  provinces  through  Paraguay? 

MR.  LAY:  You  have  to  go  around  Montevideo.  I  just  got  notice  about  a 
railroad  built  into  that  country  to  break  out  the  iron  ore  and  manganese. 

MR.  ENRIGHT:    From  what  port? 

MR.  LAY:    Porto  Alegre. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  told  you  yesterday  that  Mr.  Charles  M.  Pepper, 
who  is  perhaps  as  well  informed  as  anyone  on  Pan  American  trade  from  Canada 
south,  in  my  opinion,  as  there  is  in  this  country,  was  unable  to  be  with  us,  but  he  has 
kindly  consented  to  come  here  this  morning,  and  I  am  very  glad  that  we  can  listen 
to  Mr.  Pepper,  and,  following  his  talk,  I  am  sure  he  will  be  glad  to  answer  some 
questions.  His  presence  here  is  particularly  interesting  and  appropriate  at  the  pres- 
ent moment  because  of  the  very  prominent  part  he  has  taken  in  the  negotiations  with 
Canada. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  CHARLES  M.  PEPPER,  OF  BUREAU 
OF  TRADE  RELATIONS,  STATE  DEPARTMENT 

Mr.  PEPPER  said : 

Mr.  Director  General  and  Members  of  the  Pan  American  Conference:  The 
Director  General  was  good  enough  to  tell  me  some  weeks  ago,  when  he  asked  me 
if  I  could  make  a  brief  address  to  this  Conference,  that  if  I  was  pressed  with  other 
work  it  would  not  be  necessary  to  prepare  a  formal  paper.  He  said  all  he  really 
wanted  was  for  me  to  stand  up  and  be  made  a  target  for  a  while  so  questions  could 
be  fired  at  me;  that  I  could  take  my  own  text  and  select  my  own  hook  to  hang  a 
few  remarks  on.  In  a  case  of  that  kind  we  take  the  text  that  interests  us  most, 
individually  and  personally,  and  in  everything  relating  to  Pan  America  during  the 
last  few  years  I  have  found  my  greatest  interest,  not  to  the  exclusion  of  other  sub- 
jects, in  the  effect  which  the  Panama  Canal  may  have  on  South  America  and  its 
trade  and  its  progress  generally. 

I  know  you  had  the  subject  discussed  yesterday  very  fully,  very  completely, 
so  I  will  not  attempt  to  enter  into  it  except  in  the  briefest  possible  way,  but  will 
make  a  suggestion  or  two  which  you  may  care  to  follow  up  with  questions. 

I  was  rather  startled  to  read  in  the  newspapers  just  a  week  ago,  when  Colonel 
Goethals,  in  charge  of  that  great  construction  work,  told  a  committee  of  Congress 
that  Congress  had  better  get  ready,  had  better  arrange  about  the  tolls  of  the  vessels 
and  other  details,  for  within  three  years  the  dream  of  four  centuries  was  going  to 
be  realized,  and  the  canal  would  be  opened. 

I  wondered  then  if  those  of  you  who  are  engaged  in  practical  trade,  sweeping 
the  whole  horizon  of  Pan  America,  had  yourselves  given  much  study  to  the  benefits 
which  the  canal  is  going  to  be  to  you  on  the  west  coast,  and  even  in  the  interior  of 
South  America. 

I  am  glad  to  see  here  these  maps,  because  they  illustrate  as  cannot  be  illus- 
trated in  any  other  way,  in  a  broad  sense,  its  commerce,  geographical  relation  and 

133 


the  trade  currents  of  all  Pan  America.  I  don't  know— running  up  those  figures 
hastily — but  there  seems  to  be  something  over  $300,000,000  already  of  the  west 
coast's  commerce,  and  I  would  not  care  to  make  a  guess  as  to  how  much  will  con- 
tinue to  flow  around  the  Horn  and  Magellan  Straits  and  how  much  through  the 
canal,  but  we  are  all  agreed  that  a  very  large  portion  will  come  up  through  the 
canal.  Commerce  flowing  out  that  way  inevitably  creates  a  return  current.  I 
imagine  that  the  course  of  trade  from  those  west  coast  countries  will  lead  to  the 
development  of  their  mines  and  those  other  national  resources  that  all  the  world  is 
reaching  for,  but  you  have  to  remember  also  that  all  the  lines  of  communication  now 
are  reaching  across  the  Andes  into  that  great  Amazon  valley.  I  have  the  idea  that 
within  the  next  five  years,  when  that  wonderful  enterprise  of  the  Brazilian  Govern- 
ment, the  Madeira-Mamore  Railway,  is  completed,  and  those  interior  regions  of  the 
Amazon  are  opened  for  rubber  and  other  products  through  to  the  Atlantic,  a  return 
current  will  also  be  created,  because  the  railway  lines  on  the  Pacific  will  also  be 
piercing  through  the  Andes.  I  remember  that  it  was  less  than  seven  years  ago  in 
Chile  when  the  plans  were  considered  for  the  Transandean  Railway  through  the 
Uspallata  pass.  It  had  previously  been  considered  for  50  years  and  pushed  aside 
as  a  dream — something  that  would  never  come — just  like  the  canal,  but  you  know 
that  road  was  opened  less  than  a  year  ago.  I  am  satisfied  that  within  a  few  years 
there  will  be  other  railroads  across  the  Andes  from  Tncuman  to  Caldera,  coming 
clear  down  into  the  Amazon,  from  the  Beni  up  into  Bolivia,  from  the  Marafion  to 
Paita,  and  from  the  Ecuadorean  affluents  of  the  Amazon,  for  the  trade  coming  out 
on  the  Pacific  as  well  as  on  the  Atlantic.  The  Director  General  calls  my  attention 
to  this  map,  which  shows  that  in  a  little  better  detail,  but  the  point  I  want  to  make 
is  that  all  these  means  of  communication  and  the  opening  up  of  that  vast  interior  of 
Brazil  to  the  Atlantic  and  to  the  Pacific — the  Pacific  especially,  through  the  Panama 
Canal — means  the  developing  of  a  very  great  trade  and  the  bringing  out  of  those 
resources. 

You  are  aware  that  the  Pacific  coast  has  not  been  gifted  by  Nature  with  good 
harbors;  there  are  very  few  indeed.  The  first  thought  that  has  always  occurred  to 
me  as  I  traveled  down  the  coast  was  the  expenditures  which  would  have  to  be  made 
when  the  canal  was  opened  in  order  to  get  facilities  improved  for  transportation 
and  harbors.  I  think  every  Government  on  the  west  coast  is  already  considering 
that.  As  they  build  their  railroads,  as  they  bring  their  products  down  to  the  coast, 
inevitably  they  have  to  find  better  harbor  facilities.  In  the  first  place,  that  means 
very  large  contracts,  because  those  public  improvements  must  be  undertaken  on  a 
large  scale.  I  hope  that  all  those  contracts  will  be  had  by  contractors  in  the  United 
States.  I  do  not  say  this  in  derogation  of  the  European  contractors,  but  it  is  a 
Pan  American  policy.  It  will  mean,  of  course,  very  large  supplies  to  come  from 
the  United  States.  It  will  mean  the  employment  of  labor  under  the  direction  of  the 
contractors  and  capitalists  from  the  United  States.  It  will  mean  the  opening  up  of 
interior  resources.  It  will  mean  the  investment  of  capital  in  developing  those  mines, 
in  building  further  railroads. 

In  considering  that,  and  in  speaking  to  you  as  practical  business  men,  I  wonder 
how  many  of  you  have  really  studied  the  geography  of  South  America?  I  have 
harped  on  this  subject  and  it  has  become  something  of  a  hobby  with  me,  but  in 
numerous  addresses  on  South  America  the  first  question  has  been,  "Have  you  a 
Do  you  know  where  it  is?  Do  you  know  what  the  countries  are?"  I  am 
bound  to  say  that  in  a  good  many  instances  I  have  found  very  vague  ideas  indeed 
of  what  South  America  is.  I  am  glad  to  say  that  the  ignorance  is  not  entirely  our 
own.  We  can  poke  a  little  of  that  ignorance  at  our  English  friends.  Some  years 
ago  the  wife  of  the  British  Minister  in  Peru  told  me  she  had  just  received  a  letter 
trorn  a  friend  in  London,  England,  asking  her  about  the  wife  of  the  British  Minister 
at  Kio  de  Janeiro.  She  thought  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  Lima  were  about  as  close  as 
Washington  and  New  York. 

In  another  instance  I  heard  the  story— perhaps  you  have  heard  it  also— of 
a  very  learned  society  in  London  which  was  to  have  an  address  on  Bolivia.  The 
lecturer  got  there,  a  distinguished  Englishman  himself,  who  had  explored  all  parts 
01  the  world,  and  found  the  members  debating  whether  Bolivia  was  in  Asia  or 
CA'  K  ? .?U5  •  ^norance,  while  great,  is  not  any  greater  than  our  European 
friends  but  that  is  no  excuse,  and  the  point  I  make  is  that  the  very  first  thing  for 
you  to  do  in  order  to  get  into  the  technical  matters  of  your  business  and  the  different 

If    Yl  5T1F         6  1S  t0  f°rm  a  del?mte  idea  of  the  geograPhy  of  all  these  countries, 
commerce  amounts  to  in  them,  of  what  their  resources  are ;  and  I  think 

134 


myself  the  very  best  way  for  anybody  to  accomplish  that  is  to  travel  with  a  map. 
The  very  best  thing  for  a  business  man  to  do,  when  a  letter  comes  in  from  South 
America,  is  to  look  at  the  map  and  see  where  the  point  is.  That  is  the  first  thing 
that  occurred  to  me.  I  know  some  persons  discount  that,  but  commercial  geography 
follows  physical  geography.  We  all  know  the  very  great  work  which  has  been  done 
by  the  Pan  American  Union,  since  our  friend  Barrett  took  charge  of  it,  in  educating 
the  American  public  to  the  vast  resources  and  possibilities  of  South  America — not 
only  the  attractive  manner  in  which  he  has  brought  that  subject  before  the  public, 
but  the  very  thorough  manner  also — and  I  am  glad  to  read  the  way  the  Monthly 
Bulletin  is  jumping  into  circulation,  which  is  a  very  good  sign.  When  my  occupation 
is  pressing  on  me,  and  I  am  away  behind  on  Latin  America,  I  get  the  Bulletin 
and  read  up,  and  in  that  way  get  posted  with  detailed  information.  I  think  you 
should  follow  that  up  and  take  advantage  of  the  things  given  you  there,  so  that 
those  of  you  who  have  trade  with  those  countries,  who  are  seeking  business  with 
those  countries,  may  know  more  about  the  details. 

Director  General  Barrett  occasionally  sends  to  us  in  the  State  Department 
young  men  who  are  going  down  to  South  America.  He  always  sends  them  over 
with  a  very  kindly  letter.  I  know  he  has  given  them  some  very  useful  hints,  but  in 
his  natural  kindness  of  heart  he  does  not  scold  them,  but  he  questions  them,  "Do 
you  know  Spanish?"  I  venture  to  say  four  out  of  five  do  not.  They  tell  me  Mr. 
Barrett  has  suggested  to  them  that  they  ought  to  learn  Spanish.  I  say,  "You  must 
learn  Spanish  if  you  are  going  to  Spanish  America."  Really,  gentlemen,  there  is  no 
excuse  for  anybody  wanting  to  do  business  with  Latin  America  not  knowing  Spanish, 
or  if  he  is  going  over  to  Brazil  not  to  know  Portuguese.  Certainly,  the  Spanish  lan- 
guage is  not  hard  to  learn ;  at  least  those  of  us  who  speak  it  very  badly  think  it 
easy.  We  do  not  try  to  speak  it  to  many  of  our  cultured  Spanish  friends,  but  when 
we  talk  among  ourselves  we  speak  Spanish,  and  we  find  in  those  countries,  badly  as 
we  do  speak  it,  that  the  people  understand.  It  is  a  medium  of  intercourse  and  puts 
you  at  once  into  communication.  Without  that  medium  of  intercourse  you  cannot 
know  your  surroundings  and  know  what  people  are  thinking. 

Here  is  the  very  first  point  I  would  impress  upon  every  business  firm  who  are 
thinking  of  sending  young  men  out  to  Latin  America,  anywhere,  is  that  they  start  in 
to  take  lessons.  If  they  only  have  a  month,  they  can  make  a  beginning. 

I  remember  in  Mexico  meeting  the  head  of  a  very  important  Belgian  house. 
He  was  a  middle-aged  man,  and,  like  all  commercial  men  of  Europe,  spoke  several 
languages.  It  happened  he  had  not  learned  Spanish,  and  he  acquired  something  of 
it  on  the  ship  crossing  the  ocean.  We  met  a  young  American  who  was  trying  to 
do  business  down  there,  and  yet  he  did  not  know  Spanish.  This  European  business 
man  said :  "What  do  you  expect  that  young  man  to  accomplish  ?  He  has  been  12 
months  in  Mexico  and  does  not  know  the  language  yet.  I  would  not  give  him  $5 
a  month."  Beyond  that,  when  once  you  get  to  know  these  countries,  their  institu- 
tions, resources,  governments,  business  and  capabilities,  then  you  can  come  down 
to  the  detailed  study  of  their  wants,  the  peculiarities  which  make  every  market, 
which  must  be  studied ;  of  the  difference  in  trade  values,  the  difference  in  advertising 
methods,  of  credits  and  all  those  incidentals.  But  I  have  never  encouraged  going 
into  those  details  until  first  that  broad  foundation  was  laid  of  knowledge,  of  the 
resources,  of  the  trade  generally,  then  get  down  to  your  specific  trade. 

Gentlemen,  I  have  had  my  three  minutes  and  I  am  ready  to  be  questioned. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  sure  everyone  has  enjoyed  that  very  much. 
Now  we  want  some  questions  of  Mr.  Pepper. 

MR.  FRANCIS  J.  LOWE,  export  merchant,  of  New  York  city:  I  would  like  to 
ask  the  gentleman,  in  order  that  a  young  man  might  represent  a  house  properly 
in  South  America,  what  would  be  the  proper  expenses  per  day  for  that  gentleman. 
That  important  question  has  been  asked  by  many  firms  throughout  the  country. 

MR.  PEPPER  :    I  should  say  $10  a  day. 

MR.  LOWE:  It  seems  to  me  $15  would  be  more  like  it.    I  have  been  there. 

MR.  LINDSAY:  You  are  not  including  traveling  expenses. 

MR.  PEPPER:  I  am  not  including  transportation  expenses.  I  mean  traveling 
expenses,  when  you  get  there. 

MR.  MCMENENDEZ  :  I  would  like  to  know  how  long,  in  your  estimation,  it  will 
take  for  the  completion  of  the  Madeira-Mamore  Railway. 

MR.  PEPPER  :  I  think  it  is  to  be  finished  in  two  years.  You  know  they  are 
building ;  they  completed  a  section  a  little  while  ago. 

135 


MK.  MAN  A- ING:  1  was  told  by  a  man  from  there  a  couple  of  weeks  ago  that 
they  expected  to  have  it  in  operation  at  the  end  of  two  years. 

MR.  NOEL:  Is  it  so  that  the  Argentina  Railway  is  being  prolonged  across  the 
Andes  to  come  out  to  Antofagasta?  Have  you  any  information  about  that? 

MR.  PEPPER  :  At  Copiapo ;  there  is  where  the  low  pass  is. 

MR.  NOEL:  Is  that  being  prosecuted  now? 

MR.  PEPPER:  I  think  they  are  extending  that  now.  I  don't  know  the  full 
details,  but  it  will  be  the  next  line. 

MR.  CHANDLER:  There  are  three  new  transcontinental  railways  being  very 
actively  pushed,  the  first  one  by  the  Argentine  Government  of  Port  San  Antonio, 
from  the  Rio  Negro  on  that  bay,  across  the  Rio  Negro  territory  through  Colonia 
Walchata.  The  Southern  Railway,  which  is  now  the  largest  railway  in  the  Argen- 
tine Republic,  is  very  actively  extending  its  railways  to  connect  with  Chile.  There 
they  have  only  a  very  slight  distance  to  go,  and  when  I  left  Buenos  Aires  Christmas 
day  it  was  being  very  actively  pushed. 

In  addition  to  that,  there  are  two  or  three  railway  schemes  which  will  be 
finished  in  the  next  three  or  four  years  in  the  upper  part  of  the  country.  So  there 
seems  to  be  every  probability  that  these  railway  lines  will  be  completed  by  the  1st 
of  January,  1913.  It  is  very  probable  that  the  Governmental  railway  will  be  finished 
before  then,  and  the  Southern  railway  is  especially  anxious  to  get  it  done  in  com- 
petition with  the  Buenos  Aires  and  Pacific. 

MR.  MARSH:  I  understand  the  Portuguese  language  is  essential  for  doing 
business  in  Brazil.  I  would  like  to  ask  if  a  knowledge  of  the  Spanish  language 
would  cover  all  the  other  South  American  Republics. 

MR.  PEPPER  :  All  of  them,  yes ;  but  not  all  Latin  America. 

MR.  NOEL  :    All  of  them  except  Haiti,  where  the  language  is  French. 

MR.  W.  J.  H.  NOURSE,  of  Boynton  &  Plummer,  Inc.,  Worcester,  Mass. :  We 
have  heard  a  great  deal  about  the  railroads.  What  has  been  done  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  wagon  roads?  You  must  have  other  transportation  facilities,  it  seems 
to  me,  to  keep  up  with  these  railroads.  Is  there  being  much  done  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  wagon  roads? 

MR.  PEPPER  :  In  some  sections,  considerably.  For  instance,  in  Peru,  where 
the  Inca  Mining  Company  has  concessions,  they  have  opened  up  a  trail  and  wagon 
road  from  its  mine  right  down  into  the  river  regions.  In  a  great  many  cases  roads 
are  made  by  the  mines  and  other  industries  in  connection  with  the  governments. 

QUESTION  :  On  the  question  of  roads  I  would  like  Mr.  Pepper  to  state  whether 
the  Brazilian  Government  is  not  constructing  several  systems  of  roads  to  be  used 
exclusively  for  automobiles. 

MR.  PEPPER  :  I  think  so. 

QUESTION  :    Are  there  good  roads  in  Latin  America  ? 

MR.  MANNING  :  In  Venezuela  during  the  last  year  anywhere  from  150  to  200 
miles  of  new  cart  road  have  been  constructed.  They  have  not  been  prepared  for 
automobile  traffic,  but  it  is  the  opening  wedge,  and  the  Government  has  made  liberal 
appropriations  for  this  coming  year  for  the  extension  of  the  wagon  road  system  of 
Venezuela. 

MR,  CHANDLER:  One  very  important  point  to  make  in  connection  with  that 
is  that  the  Argentine  Minister  of  the  Interior  asked  me  to  particularly  speak  to  this 
conference  about,  the  opportunity  for  all  kinds  of  road-making  machinery. 
He  said  they  had  never  received  a  catalogue  from  an  American  firm.  Five  of  the 
largest  provinces  of  Argentina  are  going  to  spend  $3,000,000  gold  for  road  improve- 
ment. That  entire  business  is  not  now  held  by  anyone,  and  there  is  no  reason  why 
it  should  not  be  held  by  us,  because  there  is  tremendous  opportunity  for  our  people 
all  over  the  Republic. 

QUESTION:  Mr.  Pepper  has  referred  to  the  Madeira-Mamore  Railway.  I 
would  like  to  ask  him  how  much  longer  that  work  is  likely  to  be  continued  before 
the  rails  are  laid. 

MR.  PEPPER  :  Why,  they  have  laid  several  sections  already. 

QUESTION  :  I  understood  recently  it  would  probably  be  a  year  or  a  year  and 
a  half  before  it  is  completed. 

MR.  PEPPER:  Before  it  is  completed— they  have  within  two  years  completed 
185  miles,  and  that  is  now  in  operation. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  There  has  recently  been  a  very  interesting  article 
on  that  subject  in  one  of  our  Bulletins,  which  Mr.  Pepper  has  been  good  enough 
to  refer  to.  I  want  to  say,  right  in  that  connection,  we  did  not  want  you  to  think 

136 


that  we  were  not  going  to  use  you  here  to  advance,  any  of  our  own  interests.  There- 
fore, I  have  made  no  announcement  at  any  session  at  this  conference  in  regard  to 
our  Monthly  Bulletin.  I  do  want  to  say,  however,  that  the  demand  is  far  greater 
than  we  can  supply.  *As  a  result,  we  have  been  obliged  to  charge  for  the  printing 
in  order  to  pay  for  the  extra  quality  of  the  paper,  for  cuts  and  extra  articles.  The 
other  day  we  received  a  formal  communication  from  the  German  Emperor,  who 
represents  the  head  of  perhaps  the  greatest  business  nation  in  the  world,  and  he  said 
he  regarded  it  as  the  most  interesting  and  instructive  official  publication  in  the  world, 
and  the  other  day  I  was  very  much  gratified  at  the  White  House  when  the  President 
told  me  that  Mrs.  Taft  even  preferred  to  read  it  to  any  of  the  American  magazines, 
and  had  it  on  her  desk  all  the  time.  I  say  that  as  a  special  tribute  to  the  managing 
editor  of  the  Bulletin,  Mr.  Franklin  Adams,  and  his  very  efficient  assistants,  who 
do  the  large  part  of  the  work. 

Is  there  any  question  before  we  go  on  to  the  next  item  on  our  program? 

MR.  SCOTT  :  With  regard  to  automobiles  and  the  field  for  them  in  Pan  America, 
I  understand  that  the  French  and  the  English  makes  are  at  the  present  time  largely 
used  there.  With  respect  to  the  American  car,  would  the  high-grade  pleasure  car 
or  cheaper  car  have  the  best  field  in  Pan  America?  Mr.  Santamarina  spoke  of 
the  use  of  the  automobile  in  connection  with  the  transportation  of  coffee.  I  would 
like  to  know  whether  that  was  an  experiment  or  whether  large  trucks  were  employed. 

MR.  SANTAMARIXA  :  I  have  been  closely  studying  your  trade  with  our  country. 
When  we  first  opened  our  eyes  down  there  to  the  fact  that  we  would  have  to  adopt 
the  automobile  for  pleasure  and  for  business,  we  certainly  tried  to  get  some  of  our 
machines  from  the  United  States  of  America.  Now,  you  have  been  so  busy  your- 
selves that  you  have  not  been  able  to  open  the  automobile  trade  in  South  America. 
We  have  made  inquiries,  but  have  invariably  received  the  reply,  "We  are  so  busy 
that  we  cannot  be  bothered  with  export  trade."  Whatever  has  come  down  there 
in  the  infancy  of  our  automobile  trade  have  been  cars  that  I  would  not  be  justified 
in  speaking  highly  of.  This  is  a  mistake,  because  some  of  the  American  manufac- 
turers should  send  their  good  cars  down  there.  I  guess  today  the  American  car  for 
business  purposes  and  other  purposes  would  be  the  standard  car  in  South  America. 
You  must  realize,  gentlemen,  that  we  know  how  to  use  all  the  best  goods.  I  know 
if  I  pay  a  few  hundred  dollars  for  a  little  runabout,  I  cannot  expect  the  machine  to 
last  forever.  We  know  that.  You  send  us  the  right  car  and  we  will  pay  you  the 
right  price. 

As  regards  the  size  of  cars,  I  will  say  a  small  touring  car  has  not  become 
yet  very  popular  with  us,  because  people  like  to  take  out  their  families  for  a  ride, 
and  I  am  glad  to  say  that  our  population  is  increasing  very  fast,  and  we  wish  to 
carry  all  the  family  with  us. 

In  regard  to  the  business  car,  it  must  be  strong;  we  want  something  to  carry 
weight.  I  have  seen  cars  to  carry  5000  kilos,  which  would  make  10,000  pounds, 
cars  of  about  five  tons  capacity;  that  is  the  average  size  of  the  business  car  we  want 
down  there.  We  are  introducing  our  express  service,  which  is  very  good,  and 
which  is  an  honor  to  us,  something  along  the  line  of  the  American  express  companies. 

MR.  RAPOS.O  :  I  sanction  everything  that  Mr.  Santamarina  has  said  for  Argen- 
tina. You  have  sent  us  very  cheap  cars.  You  have  not  taken  the  trouble  to  send  us 
the  best  cars.  I  think  as  a  general  thing  the  American  automobile  is  to  be  preferred, 
because  you  can  take  from  one  car  parts  and  put  in  another  car,  whereas  the  French 
car  is  made  by  hand,  and  therefore  if  a  piece  is  broken  it  requires  more  time  to 
mend  it.  You  have  that  advantage  over  the  European  cars,  but  you  have  not  taken 
hold  of  it.  You  have  sent  down  there  cars  costing  $800  or  $750  or  $1000,  whereas 
we  buy  cars  costing  $5000  and  $10,000  mostly.  We  have  elegant  roads  all  through 
the  country,  and  we  have  got  in  Argentina  very  large  families.  Therefore  we  want 
big  cars,  and  we  can  use  them.  Also  another  thing,  as  to  the  American  garage.  We 
have  a  French  garage,  and  an  American  machine  going  into  a  French  garage  needs 
very  often  to  be  repaired,  probably  more  often  than  it  does  if  it  were  in  an  American 
garage ;  and  I  understand  that  one  of  your  American  firms  is  going  to  build  a 
garage  in  Argentina,  in  Buenos  Aires  and  Rio.  You  should  send  men  down  there 
to  drive  your  machines  around,  men  who  can  spend  time  in  showing  the  people. 
They  should  be  men  who  can  speak  the  language. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  will  have  to  stop  this  discussion.    If  I  allow 
this  to  go  on,  no  matter  how  interesting,  we  could  discuss  right  here  all  the  rest 
of  the  day  and  would  not  be  any  further  along. 
Mr.  Pepper,  we  are  very  grateful  to  you. 

137 


I  am  going  to  have  special  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  a  man  who  perhaps 
ranks  as  one  of  the  most  foremost  statisticians  of  the  world,  who  has  made  a  very 
careful  study  of  our  foreign  trade  as  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  and  after 
he  has  spoken  to  us  for  ten  minutes  we  will  also  ask  him  questions. 

ADDRESS    OF    MR.   O.    P.    AUSTIN,   CHIEF    OF    BUREAU    OF 
STATISTICS,  DEPARTMENT  OF  COMMERCE  AND  LABOR 

Mr.  AUSTIN  said : 

Mr.  Director  General  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Conference:  I  have  two  pleasant 
pieces  of  information  for  you  this  morning,  surprises,  perhaps.  First,  that  the  figures 
of  our  exports  to  South  America  alone  have,  for  the  first  time,  crossed  the  one-hun- 
dred-million-dollar line. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  want  just  to  say  this,  before  Mr.  Austin  goes 
any  further,  in  connection  with  his  most  interesting  talk,  that  if  you  notice  discrepan- 
cies between  the  figures  on  these  charts  and  maps  and  his  figures  and  others  that  ap- 
pear in  the  published  matter,  you  must  remember  this :  That  these  figures  had  to  be 
made  up  according  to  the  different  reports  of  different  years,  and  some  of  it  is  fiscal 
and  some  for  the  calendar  year,  and  therefore  you  will  understand  that  accounts  for 
any  diffeence  that  there  may  be,  although  for  exactly  the  same  time  in  each  country. 
we  have  given  it  as  accurately  as  we  could,  but  in  some  cases  we  could  not  get  the 
latest  statistics,  and  they  have  also  varied,  as  Mr.  Austin  knows,  from  the  figures  we 
have  here. 

MR.  AUSTIN  :  That  was  something  I  was  about  to  remark,  that  the  figures  1 
am  supplying  to  you  differ  somewhat  from  those  you  have  here,  in  some  cases,  because 
they  are  the  figures  of  the  other  countries,  in  some  cases,  because  they  are  for  a  dif- 
ferent year. 

As  I  said,  the  first  bit  of  information  I  want  to  give  you  is  that  our  exports 
have  been  so  great  that  we  have  now,  for  the  first  time,  got  across  the  one-hundred- 
million-dollar  line  of  exports  to  South  America,  and  of  that,  probably  80  per  cent, 
is  manufactures.  I  am  speaking  now  purely  of  South  America.  I  am  going  to  say 
something  about  Latin  America  as  a  whole  directly,  but  these  figures  are  the  very 
latest  we  have. 

The  second  piece  of  information  is  that  I  am  not  going  to  talk  statistics,  and 
going  to  be  very,  very  brief  and  obey  your  pleasure  in  the  matter  of  questions. 

The  points  I  want  to  make  I  have  put  into  just  as  condensed  form  as  I  can,  and 
am  supplying  you  from  these  papers,  which  are  being  handed  to  you,  statements  show- 
ing the  total  imports  and  total  exports  of  every  Pan  American  country,  and  the  share 
of  the  imports  drawn  from  the  United  States  and  of  the  exports  sent  to  the  United 
States,  these  figures  being  in  each  case  for  the  very  latest  available  year,  chiefly  1909, 
some  of  them  1908,  and  these,  you  will  understand,  are  the  official  figures  of  the  coun- 
tries themselves. 

Then  you  will  find  on  another  page  a  statement  showing  the  value  of  the  exports 
from  the  United  States,  Great  Britain  and  Germany  to  all  Pan  America,  each  year 
for  20  years,  which  will  give  you  an  idea  of  the  share  which  we  have  in  supplying  the 
commerce  imports  of  those  countries  and  the  relative  growth  in  that  trade  of  the  three 
rival  nations. 

Now,  as  to  the  points  I  want  to  make,  first,  that  the  very  latest  figures  show 
that  the  imports  and  exports  of  Latin  America  aggregate,  and  I  need  not  explain  to 
you  what  I  mean  by  Latin  America,  except  that  I  want  to  say  that  I  do  not  include  in 
these  figures  Porto  Rico,  because  we  are  now  considering  Porto  Rico  a  customs  dis- 
trict of  the  United  States,  and  therefore  in  our  figures  of  trade  of  foreign  commerce 
we  did  not  include  Porto  Rico,  so  that  these  figures  include  everything  which  you 
consider  Pan  America— Latin  America,  except  possibly  you  might  consider  Porto 
Kico — but  Porto  Rico  is  not  included  in  these  figures. 

The  distinct  points  which  I  want  to  make  in  the  few  words  that  I  shall  say  to 
you  are  as  follows : 

^i.    That  the  very  latest  figures  show  that  the  imports  and  exports  of  Latin 

America  aggregate  $2,000,000.000  annually,  almost  equally  divided  between  imports 

ts;  the  imports  a  little  less  than  $1,000,000,000,  the  exports  a  little  more  than 

138 


$1,000,000,000,  the  value  of  both  imports  and  exports  having  practically  doubled  in 
the  past  10  years. 

2.  That  we  now  supply  24  per  cent,  of  the  imports  of  those  countries  as  a 
whole,  and  take  31  per  cent,  of  their  exports.    To  the  remainder  of  the  world  we  sup- 
ply about  14  per  cent,  of  its  imports  and  take  about  7  per  cent,  of  the  exports. 

3.  That  in  those  countries  which  are  nearer  to  us  than  to  Europe  we  supply  a 
large  share  of  the  imports,  while  in  those  countries  which  are  as  near  to  Europe  by 
steamship  lines  as  to  the  United  States  the  share  which  we  supply  of  their  imports 
is  small. 

4.  That  this  fact  gives  us  assurance  that  the  opening  of  the  Panama  Canal  will 
give  us  a  much  larger  share  of  the  trade  of  the  western  coast  of  Central  and  South 
America  than  we  now  have. 

5.  That  our  exports  to  Latin  America  have  in  recent  years  grown  more  rapidly 
than  those  to  other  parts  of  the  world,  and  now  form  14  per  cent,  of  our  total  exports, 
against  9  per  cent.  20  years  ago. 

6.  That  despite  the  large  growth  in  our  exports  to  Latin  America,  they  are 
still  equaled  by  those  of  Great  Britain,  and  that  Germany's  percentage  of  growth  in 
that  trade  is  quite  as  great  as  our  own. 

7.  That  if  we  are  to  further  enlarge  our  share  of  the  imports  of  the  area 
under  consideration  we  must  adopt  the  methods  which  have  given  success  to  our 
rivals,  namely,  make  the  goods  to  suit  local  wants,  supply  them  in  the  form  which  the 
trade  demands,  sell  them  on  the  accommodating  terms  which  our  rivals  give,  canvass 
the  field  just  as  you  canvass  your  own  field  at  home  with  men  speaking  the  language 
of  the  countries  which  they  canvass,  and  build  up  transportation  systems  by  which 
the  merchandise  when  ordered  can  be  cheaply  and  promptly  delivered  to  the  purchaser. 

These  are  the  great  facts  which  you  must  face  if  you  expect  to  make  the  United 
States  what  it  ought  to  be — the  principal  source  of  supply  for  the  merchandise  con- 
sumed in  Latin  America.  We  now  supply  to  those  countries  which  are  nearer  to  us 
than  to  Europe — Mexico,  Central  America,  the  northern  countries  of  South  America, 
and  the  West  Indies — from  30  to  60  per  cent,  of  their  imports ;  to  those  which  are  as 
near  to  Europe  as  to  the  United  States,  namely,  Brazil,  Uruguay,  Paraguay,  Argen- 
tina and  the  west  coast  of  South  America,  from  10  to  20  per  cent.  This  suggests 
that  when  we  get  a  direct  passageway  to  the  west  coast  through  the  Panama  Canal 
we  may  obtain  about  the  same  share  of  the  imports  of  that  section  as  we  do  in  the 
case  of  other  countries  nearer  to  us  than  to  Europe,  say,  from  30  to  60  per  cent.,  but 
if  we  are  to  still  further  develop  the  trade  in  general  we  can  only  do  it  by  the  processes 
which  have  given  success  to  our  rivals — personal  attention  to  details,  making  the  goods 
to  suit  the  markets,  selling  them  in  forms  and  upon  terms  to  suit  local  custom,  push- 
ing with  trained  salesmen  just  as  you  do  in  the  home  market,  and  sending  them  by 
transportation  methods  which  will  place  them  in  the  hands  of  the  purchaser  in  perfect 
condition  and  in  the  shortest  possible  time  after  his  order  is  given. 

I  need  not  say  more.  The  figures  which  T  have  supplied  on  sheets  of  sufficient 
number  that  each  delegate  may  have  copies  for  his  own  consideration  show  our  share 
in  the  trade  of  each  of  the  Latin  American  countries  in  the  latest  year  available,  the 
growth  of  our  trade  with  that  part  of  the  world  for  a  term  of  years,  and  a  comparison 
of  our  own  exports  to  all  Latin  America  with  those  of  our  chief  rivals — Great  Britain 
and  Germany — the  figures  in  each  case  covering  a  2O-year  period. 

In  case  you  desire  statements  showing  the  articles  which  we  export  to  or  import 
from  any  or  all  of  these  countries,  you  have  but  to  write  to  the  Bureau  of  Statistics 
of  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor  and  they  will  be  supplied  free  of  charge 
and  in  a  form  covering  the  subject  in  great  detail  and  for  a  term  of  years.  The  busi- 
ness of  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor  is  to  supply  information  to  those  de- 
siring to  extend  their  foreign  trade,  and  it  is  doing  this,  but  wants  to  do  more  of  it. 
"If  you  don't  see  what  you  want,  ask  for  it." 


139 


*  GUATEMALA* 


PMI  AM  tiy  CKH  UMIOK 

WosK.D.C. 


FOREIGN    COMMERCE    OF    LATIN    AMERICAN    COUNTRIES 
AND   SHARE   THEREOF  WITH   THE   UNITED   STATES 

Imports  and  exports  of  merchandise  into  and  from  specified  American  coun- 
tries and  share  of  the  United  States  therein  during  the  latest  year*  for  which  figures 
are  available.  From  official  reports  of  the  respective  countries. 

(Prepared  by  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  Feb- 
ruary 15,  1911.) 

-Exports. ^ 

To  the  United  States. 
Per  cent. 

Dollars.  to  U.  S. 

12,567,000  3.6 

1384  

85,938,000  40.1 

16,083,000  13.8 

6,897,000  46.0 

4,096,000  52.8 

99,973,000  86.5 

3,768,000  29.2 

1,777,000  26.3 

447,000  12.9 

1,613,000  86.8 

86,127,000  74.8 

1,034,000  22.0 

1,654,000  91.5 

16,000  .4 

5,875,000  22.5 

1,954,000  33.1 

5,223,000  54.4 

2,107,000  5.7 
35.5 


t 

A 

From  all     From  the  United  States. 

•  To  all 

countries. 

Per  cent. 

countries. 

Countries. 

Dollars. 

Dollars. 

from  U.  S. 

Dollars. 

Argentina  

292,160,000 

41,561,000 

14.3 

353,195,000 

Bolivia  

20,774,000 

4,164,000 

20.0 

24,038,000 

Brazil2  

179,690,000 

22,266,000 

12.4 

214,300,000 

Chile3  

94,350,000 

9,601,000 

10.2 

116,489,000 

Colombia  

13,514,000 

3,690,000 

27.4 

14,989,000 

Costa  Rica  

5,629.000 

2,618,000 

46.5 

7,758,000 

Cuba*  

98,240,000 

49,956,000 

50.9 

115,637,000 

Ecuador  

10,003,000 

1.99-1,000 

19.9 

12,925,000 

Guatemala  

5,812,000 

1,719,000 

29.6 

6,756,000 

Haiti  

4,701,000 

3,054,000 

65.0 

3,479,000 

Honduras  

2,754,000 

1,828,000 

66.4 

1,859,000 

Mexico5  

97,039,000 

56,213,000 

57.9 

115,089,000 

Nicaragua  

3,000.000 

1,297,000 

43.2 

4,500,000 

Panama0  

7,807,000 

4,460,000 

57.1 

1,827,000 

Paraguay  

3,930,000 

55,000 

1.4 

3,732,000 

Peru  

25,771,000 

5,815,00(3 

22.6 

26,161,000 

Salvador  

4,211,000 

1,287,000 

30.3 

5,896,000 

Santo  Domingo  

4,905,000 

2,605,00(1 

53.1 

9,595,000 

Uruguay7  

34,619.000 

3,135,000 

9.1 

37,281,000 

Venezuela  

10,186,000 

2,870,000 

28.2 

14,627,000 

Total 919,125,000         220,194,000 


5,194,000 


21.0        1,090,133,000         342,343,384 


31.4 


ilmports  into  the  United  States  from  Bolivia. 

2Specie  not  included. 

?Figures  are  those  of  imports  for  consumption  and  domestic  exports. 

4Figures  are  those  of  general  trade. 

•"•Figures  include  bullion  and  specie.    Imports  through  postofflces  not  Included. 

°Commerce  of  Canal  Zone  not  included. 

7Figures  are  those  of  special  trade,  including  bullion,  but  not  coin. 


*1908  for  exports  except  Paraguay,  1907  ;  Haiti,  1907-8  ;  Mexico  and  Cuba,  1908-9.  1908  for 
imports  except  Paraguay,  1907  ;  Haiti,  1907-8 ;  Mexico,  Cuba,  1908-9  ;  Argentina,  Brazil,  Chile 
and  Peru,  1909. 


EXPORTS  FROM  THE  UNITED  STATES,  GREAT  BRITAIN, 
AND  GERMANY  TO  LATIN  AMERICA,  1890  TO  1910 

(Figures  represent  trade  with  Argentina,  Bolivia,  Brazil,  Chile,  Colombia, 
Costa  Rica,  Cuba,  Ecuador,  Guatemala,  Haiti,  Honduras,  Mexico,  Nicaragua,  Panama, 
Paraguay,  Peru,  Salvador,  Santo  Domingo,  Uruguay  and  Venezuela.) 

Germany. 


Year. 


United  States.    Great  Britain. 
, Millions  of  dollars.- 


1891. 
1892. 
1893. 
1894. 
1895. 


1897. 
1898. 


76.7 

74.7 

77.8 

88.5 

78.9 

74.4 

76.6 

78.3 

74.0 

88.3 

110.7 

118.8 

115 . 1 

115.1 

136.6 

159.2 

209.0 

230.0 

220.0 

201.9 

1910 242.1 


1900. 
1901. 
1902. 


1904. 
1905. 
1906. 
1907. 
1908. 
1909. 


140.9 
114.2 
120.1 
113.4 
105.5 
127.1 
127.0 
101.9 
103.5 
115.2 
130.2 
116.0 
115.4 
133.1 
156.1 
176.7 
228.5 
251.5 
206.8 
220.1 
No  data. 


40.2 
35.8 
42.2 
45.6 
37.6 
51.7 
49.0 
42.0 
40.8 
47.1 
56.3 
49.5 
50.6 
62.8 
75.6 
92.6 
113.1 
130.3 
99.4 
108.2 
No  data. 


141 


FOREIGN  COMMERCE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  SHARE 
THEREOF  WITH  LATIN  AMERICA,  1890  TO  1910 


Year 
ending 
June  30. 

,  —  Imports  in 

Total. 
Dollars. 
789,310,109 

.to  the  United  States.  —  N  r-  Exports  1 
From  Latin   Per  cent. 
America,   from  Latin       Total. 
Dollars.     America.       Dollars. 
178,623,328         22.63            857,828,684 
222399,991          26.33             884,480,810 
272483,220          32.93          1,030,278,148 
225,906,702          26.08             847,665,194 
218,362,321          33.34             892,140,572 
196,516,050          26.85             807,538,165 
180,022,806          23.09             882,606,938 
156,661,864          20.49          1,050,993,556 
136,854,235          22.21          1,231,482,330 
148,150,097          21.25          1,227,023,302 
167,180,295          19.67          1,394,483,082 
198,223,744          24.08          1,487,764,991 
208,510,497          23.08          1,381.719,401 
225,923,096          22.03          1,420,141,679 
256,227,244          25.85          1,460,827,271 
302,266,593         27.05         1,518,561,666 
294,049,326          23.97          1,743,864,500 
334,572,126         23.33         1,880,851,078 
273,176.971         22.87         1,860,773,346 
324,l54;i36         24.71         1,663,011,104 
392,955,257         25.24         1,744,984,720 

844,916,196 

1892        

827,402,462 

v  1893 

866,400,922* 

1894      

654,994,622 

1895 

731,969,965 

1896    

779,724,674 

1897 

764,730,412 

1898        

016,049,654 

1899 

697,148,489 

1900        , 

849,941,184 

1901 

823,172,165 

1902          .... 

903,320,948 

1903 

1,025,719,237 

1904          

991,087,371 

1905 

1,117,513,071 

1906          

1,226,562,446 

1907 

1,434,421,425 

1908 

1,194,341,792 

1009        , 

1,311,920,224 

1910  

,  1,556,947,430 

To  Latin 

Per  cent. 

America. 

to  Latin 

Dollars. 

America. 

76,704,113 

8.94 

74,699,678 

8.45 

77,819,562 

8.55 

88,503,511 

10.44 

78,924,298 

8.85 

74,422,739 

9.22 

76,611,305 

8.68 

78,320,416 

7.45 

74,030,291 

6.01 

88,307,187 

7.20 

110,674,490 

7.94 

118,772,158 

7.98 

115,132,413 

8.33 

115,053.595 

8.10 

136,615,381 

9.35 

159,156,657 

10.48 

209,043,359 

11.99 

229,966,603 

12.23 

219,968,513 

11.82 

201,912,874 

12.14 

242,123,502 

13.87 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  Now,  gentlemen,  following  that  I  want  the  ques- 
tions kept  directly  to  the  subject  of  statistics. 

MR.  LINDSAY:  Mr.  Austin,  a  considerable  proportion  of  our  export  trade  is 
merged  in  foreign  export.  Have  you  any  idea  about  what  proportion  ? 

MR.  AUSTIN  :     I  think  I  do  not  quite  understand. 

MR.  LINDSAY:  A  considerable  proportion  of  our  goods  go  to  England,  for 
instance,  and  are  shown  as  British  exports,  which  are  ultimately  destined  to  Latin 
America  or  Germany. 

MR.  AUSTIN  :  I  am  not  able  to  give  a  very  definite  figure  on  that.  I  made 
some  efforts  in  London  not  very  long  ago,  but  found  a  disposition  to  keep  that  a  secret, 
if  possible,  but  the  percentage,  of  course,  would  be  small ;  the  percentage  forms  of  the 
total  exports  of  Great  Britain,  which  merchandise  from  the  United  States  reshipped 
would  be  small,  but  it  would  amount  to  many  millions  of  dollars,  of  course. 

MR.  LODER:  I  am  interested  in  the  manufacture  of  suspenders,  the  corporation 
of  which  I  am  identified,  and  I  have  endeavored  through  various  sources  to  ascertain 
as  to  how  many  or  the  value  of  that  manufactured  merchandise  exported  into  South 
American  Republics  from  the  outside,  that  is,  German  and  English  and  Fiench  manu- 
facture, and  I  have  been  unable  to  get  it.  I  would  like,  if  it  is  possible,  to  get  that 
information. 

MR.  AUSTIN  :  I  cannot  answer  that  that  way,  for  the  reason  that  our  own  fig- 
ures of  exports  do  not  cover  that  particular  item,  and  I  could  not  say  definitely  as  to 
the  other  countries  whether  the  statistics  of  the  importing  countries  show  that.  The 
only  way  I  could  answer  you  definitely  is,  if  you  will  write  the  Bureau  of  Statistics, 
or  call  while  you  are  here,  I  will  have  our  experts  examine  the  official  publications  of 
the  various  countries  and  give  you  all  the  information  I  can. 

MR.  BARRETT  :     We  are  very  grateful  to  you,  Mr.  Austin. 

I  am  asked  by  our  indefatigable  Chief  Clerk,  Mr.  Adams,  to  call  your  atten- 
tion to  the  February  issue  of  our  Bulletin  as  an  illustration  of  the  kind  of  work  that 
we  are  doing  and  to  give  you  an  idea  of  its  contents. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  am  glad  to  say  that  we  have  with  us  this  morning  one 
of  the  members  of  our  Governing  Board,  who  has  been  so  much  in  America  that  he  is 
very  familiar  with  our  country,  as  well  as  with  his  own  great  country  of  Chile,  which 
reaches  2600  or  2700  miles  along  the  southern,  temperate  west  coast  of  South  America, 
and  I  am  going  to  call  upon  Mr.  Alberto  Yoacham,  the  Charge  d'Affaires  of  Chile,  to 
say  a  few  words  about  his  country. 


142 


ADDRESS  OF  THE  CHARGE  D'AFFAIRES  OF  CHILE, 
MR.  ALBERTO  YOACHAM 

Mr.  YOACHAM  said : 

Gentlemen,  it  is  very  nice  to  be  introduced  this  way  by  Mr.  Barrett,  but  he 
always  thinks  that  everybody  possesses  the  same  gifts  that  he  has  of  speaking  in 
public.  You  will  therefore  be  greatly  disappointed,  because,  first,  I  am  not  prepared, 
and  secondly,  I  have  not  that  gift.  The  Assistant  Secretary  of  State  said  yesterday 
of  diplomatic  life  that  it  is  not  so  easy  and  so  idle  as  many  people  think  it  is.  Lately 
I  have  had  a  lot  of  work,  and  consequently  I  have  not  been  able  to  follow  so  closely 
as  I  should  like  the  sessions  of  this  Conference,  the  importance  of  which  demands  the 
greatest  attention. 

The  commercial  intercourse  between  two  nations  must  necessarily  benefit  both, 
and  if  we  are  convinced  of  this  just  and  useful  principle  it  is  imperative  that  we  should 
study  the  means  to  overcome  the  obstacles  that  bar  the  expansion  of  trade  among  our 
respective  countries,  the  development  of  which  trade  has  not,  unfortunately,  assumed 
the  proportions  that  it  should  have.  On  the  other  hand,  to  strengthen  the  union  of 
these  countries,  whose  interests  and  ideals  are  identical,  by  means  of  a  commerce 
mutual  in  all  its  branches,  including  banking,  insurance  and  navigation,  is  undoubt- 
edly an  aim  worthy  of  the  purposes  for  which  the  Pan  American  Union  was  created, 
and  worthy  also  of  the  zeal  and  activity  of  its  indefatigable  Director  General,  Mr. 
Barrett. 

Mr.  Root,  in  his  masterly  speech  of  Kansas  City,  pointed  in  1906,  with  the  pre- 
ciseness  and  frankness  that  characterize  him,  to  the  impediments  and  obstacles  hinder- 
ing the  importation  of  merchandise  into  the  southern  portion  of  the  continent,  and  to 
the  advantages  which  such  trade  would  afford.  Unhappily,  during  the  four  years  that 
have  elapsed  his  wise  advice  has  not  been  followed  in  the  proper  manner,  although  our 
exports  and  needs  increase  considerably  from  year  to  year,  just  as  the  necessities  and 
the  production  of  this  country  increase.  Therefore,  the  time  for  action  has  come. 
Through  American  banks  established  in  South  America  you  can  reap  the  same  enor- 
mous profits  that  similar  European  institutions  are  now  enjoying,  and  you  will  at  the 
same  time  contribute  to  the  development  of  our  industries,  and  through  a  greater  mer- 
chant marine  Pan  American  commerce  will  be  promoted  and  considerably  enlarged. 

We  can  supply  you  with  the  raw  materials  that  you  need,  and  we  need  the  arti- 
cles manufactured  by  the  American  industries.  Your  fields  and  your  industries  need 
nitrate;  our  nitrate  deposits  need  machinery;  the  products  of  our  agriculture,  our 
wines,  our  wool,  our  cereals,  need  more  capital  for  their  expansion,  as  do  our  mines ; 
and  certainly  money  is  not  lacking  in  the  United  States.  It  can  also  be  assured  that 
the  returns  for  the  investment  of  such  money,  while  being  as  fully  guaranteed  as  it  is 
here,  are  perhaps  twice  greater. 

I  do  not  believe  that  I  could  add  anything  new  to  what  has  already  been  said 
here  on  the  interesting  subject  that  engages  our  attention,  but  I  think  that  it  would 
not  be  useless  to  remind  you  that  a  market  cannot  be  taken  by  storm,  and  that  our 
position  as  the  only  producers  of  certain  necessary  articles  is  far  better  than  that  of 
the  exporter  who  has  to  contend  against  an  old,  clever  and  well-established  propa- 
ganda and  competition. 

Banking  houses  are  not  only  useful  on  account  of  their  capital,  but  also  abso- 
lutely necessary  as  sources  of  information ;  and,  finally,  without  one's  own  means  of 
transportation  no  commercial  interchange  can  be  extended  and  protected.  Conse- 
quently, to  these  points,  in  my  humble  opinion,  should  be  directed  the  efforts  of  those 
who,  like  myself,  are  anxious  to  see  forever  established  in  America  a  flourishing  and 
prosperous  American  commerce. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  am  sure  we  have  enjoyed  that  very  much.  Mr. 
Yoacham  wishes  to  be  excused  from  answering  any  particular  questions,  and  in  the 
meantime  we  will  ask  Mr.  Henry  L.  Janes  of  the  Latin-American  Division  of  the  State 
Department,  who  has  had  a  long  experience  in  Chile,  as  well  as  in  other  parts  of  Latin- 
America,  to  give  a  few  remarks,  and  then  I  would  say  we  have  here  also  the  Chilean 
Consul,  and  he  told  me  this  morning  that  he  did  not  wish  to  make  any  speech,  but 
that  he  would  be  glad  to  answer  any  questions,  as  far  as  he  could,  or  assist  in  answer- 
ing any. 

We  have  much  pleasure  now  in  listening  to  Mr.  Janes. 

143 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  HENRY  L.  JANES,  DIVISION  OF  LATIN- 
AMERICAN  AFFAIRS,  STATE  DEPARTMENT 

Mr.  JANES  said: 

The  invitation  to  say  a  few  words  to  you  today  on  the  subject  of  the  commer- 
cial relations  of  the  Republic  of  Chile  has  given  me  genuine  pleasure,  which  is  no 
doubt  to  be  ascribed  in  great  part  to  the  agreeable  recollection  of  the  years  that  it 
was  my  good  fortune  to  serve  in  the  American  diplomatic  service  at  the  capital  of 
this  most  interesting,  sturdy  country.  I  almost  despair  of  being  able  to  present  to 
you  anything  beyond  a  few  general  facts  in  the  effort  to  acquaint  you  in  outline  with 
the  Chilean  environment  of  trade  and  with  the  purpose  of  suggesting  possible  ques- 
tions which  an  interest  in  this  part  of  the  world  may  indicate  and  which  I  will  be 
happy  to  endeavor  to  answer. 

I  have  been  greatly  impressed  with  the  significance  of  a  statement  made  to 
the  Conference  a  few  days  ago  to  the  effect  that  "trade  follows  the  loan."  The  course 
of  west  coast  commercial  development  lends  confirmation  to  this  statement,  and  I 
am  encouraged  to  pursue  the  idea  a  step  further  and  to  add  that  trade  follows  the 
loan  and  the  investment.  On  the  west  coast  of  South  America  both  Englishmen  and 
Germans  have  preceded  us  with  the  loan,  the  investment  of  capital  and  the  early 
cultivation  of  that  enormously  extensive  field  which  has  hardly  been  broken  by  the 
plowshare  of  American  enterprise.  The  South  American  Republics,  occupying  the 
narrow  Andean  region  along  the  Pacific  coast,  constituting  about  one-sixth  of  the 
total  area  of  the  South  American  continent,  with  about  14,000,000  people,  possess  a 
foreign  trade  of  over  $300,000,000,  of  which  the  United  States  has  not  more  than  a 
tenth  portion.  The  English  merchant  now  enjoys  the  numerous  advantages  accruing 
from  his  early  arrival  here,  and  the  German  in  South  America,  as  in  other  parts  of 
the  world,  has  shrewdly  grasped  the  opportunities  presented  with  the  vigor  and 
tenacity  characteristic  of  the  nation.  And  now,  with  the  proximate  completion  of 
the  Panama  Canal,  our  competitors  who  have  preceded  us  thither  turn  to  the  north 
and  labor  industriously  to  strengthen  themselves  behind  the  ramparts  of  trade,  the 
loan  and  the  investment  to  meet  the  inevitable  incursion  of  American  commerciaJ 
undertakings.  Everyone  who  has  faith  in  the  sterling  intelligence  and  resourceful- 
ness of  our  people,  and  who  has  seen  the  superior  quality  of  the  American  article, 
cannot  fear  the  ultimate  result  in  the  coming  struggle ;  but  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  we  must  learn  the  lesson  taught  by  the  experience  of  those  who  have  preceded 
us  in  this  field,  and  devote  ourselves  to  a  careful,  scientific  study  of  the  peculiar  con- 
ditions in  search  of  the  means  and  ways  that  will  enable  us  to  fulfil  the  requirements 
that  constitute  success  in  an  environment  so  different  from  that  in  which  we  live. 

One  of  the  first  things  that  a  traveler  passing  down  the  Pacific  coast  notes  is 
the  lack  of  harbor  facilities.  There  are  only  one  or  two  natural  ports.  The  ship 
rides  at  anchor  usually  some  distance  from  shore  in  the  open  roadstead.  Enormous 
sums  of  money  are  yet  to  be  expended  to  provide  the  facilities  which  modern  com- 
merce demands.  Callao  and  Valparaiso  are  today  the  only  west  coast  cities  provided 
with  wharves  permitting  the  discharge  of  vessels  under  the  most  favorable  conditions. 
In  the  other  ports  the  cargo  is  unloaded  at  an  anchorage  many  yards  from  the  shore 
by  lighters  brought  alongside.  To  one  who  has  had  some  experience  with  the  most 
unpacific  Pacific  Ocean  the  importance  of  this  fact  in  its  bearing  upon  the  matter 
of  packing,  loss  and  incidental  expense  is  at  once  apparent.  But  both  Chile  and 
Peru  are  keenly  alive  to  the  needs  of  the  present  situation,  and  making  every  effort 
to  be  prepared  to  handle  the  great  increase  in  the  volume  of  trade  that  will  soon 
flow  to  their  shores  through  the  Panama  Canal.  At  Valparaiso,  San  Antonio,  Tal- 
cahuano,  Corral,  Mejillones  and  along  the  Peruvian  coast  plans  of  harbor  improve- 
ments are  being  consummated  and  executed  with  this  purpose  in  view. 

Just  a  word  upon  a  matter  that  has  several  times  been  brought  up  in  the  form 
of  questions  from  delegates— the  element  of  population  and  language.    Some  persons 
manifest  considerable  surprise  when  the  term  Spanish  as  applied  so  generally  and 
loosely  to  South  America  is  objected  to  as  inapplicable.     Of  course,  Brazil  is  com- 
posed of  a  population  for  the  most  part  of  Portuguese  origin.     On  the  west  coast 
u    bp,an.lsh  lan.g"age  is  universally  spoken  in  all  the  civilized  centers ;  but,  although 
the  ethnic  origin  of  this  part  of  the  world  is  essentially  Iberian,  anyone  who  takes 
this  fact  without  many  qualifications  exposes  himself  on  the  ground  to  a  multitude 
surprises.    Thirty-four  per  cent,  of  the  Chilean  population  is  composed  of  a  non- 
144 


Spanish,  European  stock  which  has  been  assimilated  and  welded  into  one  homo- 
geneous mass,  possessed  of  the  sturdy,  enterprising  qualities  that  distinguish  that 
admirable  race.  The  South  American  properly  regards  himself  as  possessing  as 
many  distinctive  marks  of  nationality  that  distinguish  him  from  the  citizen  of  the 
mother  country  as  does  the  American. 

One  who  returns  from  South  America  is  often  asked  in  the  most  matter-of- 
fact  tone:  "Tell  me  something  about  revolutions  you  observed  when  stationed  at 
your  last  post."  During  a  residence  of  almost  five  years  in  the  Southern  Hemisphere 
I  am  then  obliged  to  say  I  never  have  seen  that  spectre  so  decked  out  with  the  para- 
phernalia of  melodramatic  exaggeration  by  the  facile  pen  of  our  well-informed  press ; 
nor,  what  appears  to  give  cause  for  even  greater  astonishment,  do  I  possess  the 
cynicism  of  those  who  have  acquired  the  pessimism  of  Hamlet  while  brooding  over 
the  so-called  spirit  of  mafiana  because  they  have  not  been  able  to  delve  deeper  than 
superficial  appearances.  For  80  years  Chile  has  been  living  under  a  Constitution,  the 
terms  of  which  have  been  modified  only  by  constitutional  means,  and  during  a  period 
of  50  years  she  has  known  but  one  revolution,  which,  like  our  own  Civil  War,  came 
to  life  in  violent  assertion  of  constitutional  principles  of  which  modern  political 
science  takes  practical  and  serious  account.  Both  Chile  and  Peru  are  making  rapid 
advance  in  the  most  modern  directions  under  their  stable  and  enlightened  forms  of 
governmental  administration. 

Chilean  foreign  trade  during  the  past  year  amounted  to  over  $2qg,ooo,ooo, 
which  is  only  slightly  less  than  Mexico's  total  commerce  with  foreign  countries,  and 
places  Chile  in  third  rank  as  to  South  American  total  trade  figures.  The  United 
States  sells  only  about  10  per  cent,  of  the  total  amount  purchased  abroad  by  Chile, 
and  buys  about  14  per  cent,  of  which  Chile  has  to  sell.  Computing  Chile's  population 
at  3,500,000,  each  person  sells  to  us,  according  to  the  last  statistical  reports  available, 
$4.60  worth  of  goods,  and  buys  from  us  about  $2.75  of  commodities.  The  figures  of 
Chile's  foreign  trade  show  a  favorable  balance  of  more  than  $23,000,000.  Saltpeter 
takes  about  one-third  of  the  total  exportation  and  provides  about  65  per  cent,  of 
Chile's  total  national  income.  The  United  Kingdom  comes  in  for  the  largest  share 
of  Chilean  trade,  Germany  following  closely,  greatly  outdistancing  the  United  States. 

It  will  be  of  interest  to  you  to  note  that  Chile  admits  free  of  duty  the  impor- 
tant elements  of  industrial  development — machinery,  fuel,  tools  and  materials.  Her 
chief  exports  are  nitrate,  copper,  hides,  furs  (chinchilla),  wines,  silver  and  iron. 
She  also  exports  considerable  quantities  of  grain,  bran,  peas,  rye  and  middlings. 
Some  American  agricultural  machinery  is  to  be  found  in  the  Chilean  market,  and 
the  trade  in  threshers,  seeders,  mowers  and  reapers,  although  greatly  limited  nat- 
urally by  the  reduced  agricultural  area  in  Chile,  is  good. 

In  common  with  other  South  American  countries,  Chile's  manufacturing  indus- 
try has  not  yet  reached  a  point  of  development  which  makes  it  probable  that  the 
foreign  trade  in  manufactured  articles  will  be  threatened  for  many  years  in  the 
future.  The  Government  has  made  strenuous  efforts,  and  with  some  success,  to 
establish  branches  of  the  manufacturing  industry  upon  national  soil,  but  the  greatest 
difficulties  encountered  still  remain  the  lack  of  capital  and  the  reduced  number  of 
competent  workmen  available.  In  the  meantime  the  market  is  there  to  be  developed 
almost  without  restraint.  Manufactures  of  brick,  floor  tile,  cement,  clothes,  hats, 
shirts,  collars,  print  goods,  different  kinds  of  iron  work,  leather,  carriages  and 
wagons,  cigars  and  cigarettes,  matches,  etc.,  are  doing  a  profitable  business  in  the 
country.  The  raw  material  furnished  by  the  country  is  fully  adequate  to  supply  all 
domestic  needs.  Industrial  Chile  has  now  fully  recovered  from  the  terrible  results 
of  the  wild  speculation  of  1905-6  and  the  great  earthquake  of  August,  1906,  when  the 
hand  of  death  and  destruction  covered  with  worthless  debris  the  rich  central  zone. 
This  general  improvement  speaks  eloquently  for  the  recuperative  powers  of  the 
Chilean.  Good  crops  have  come  to  help  him,  and  the  acreage  of  cultivated  land  has 
increased  almost  1,500,000  acres  in  the  past  twelve  months.  The  more  general  use  of 
nitrate  and  other  fertilizers  and  the  introduction  of  improved  machinery  and  up-to- 
date  methods  have  borne  splendid  results  on  every  hand.  Chile  exports  about  5,000,000 
bushels  of  wheat,  produced  at  an  acreage  of  14  bushels  per  acre  on  approximately 
2,500,000  acres.  In  the  south  of  Chile  there  are  abundant  forests  of  excellent  timber. 
Owing  to  the  lack  of  facilities  of  transportation  and  the  unquestionably  speculative 
character  of  many  of  the  companies  organized  to  exploit  the  timber  wealth  of  this 
region,  which  disappeared  before  the  great  crisis  of  a  few  years  ago  like  the  dry 
blade  before  the  prairie  fire,  little  has  really  been  done  to  bring  this  wealth  within 
reach  of  the  great  centers  of  population.  But  much  is  certainly  to  be  done  in  the 

'45 


future.    It  may  surprise  many  to  be  told  that  Chile  has  more  forests  to  its  area  than 
any  country  in  the  world. 

I  have  always  found  the  northern  provinces  of  Chile,  from  the  Peruvian  fron- 
tier to  the  southern  limits  of  the  Antofagasta  Province  (which  came  to  Chile  as  the 
fruit  of  her  victories  in  the  war  of  1879  with  Peru  and  Bolivia),  to  be  the  most 
interesting  parts  of  the  Republic.  There  lie  the  most  extensive  nitrate  beds  in  the 
world.  In  all  the  great  stretch  of  country  from  the  Andes  to  the  Pacific  Ocean  rain 
never 'falls.  Not  a  blade  of  green  is  to  be  seen  except  in  depressions  where  the  saline 
waters  have  seeped  through  from  the  great  Cordillera,  or  along  a  few  streams,  like 
the  river  Loa,  whose  brackish  waters  flow  between  the  bare  hills  and  over  the  sandy 
plains  furrowed  by  the  rush  of  torrents  of  far-distant  geologic  ages. 

The  chief  ports  of  the  whole  region  are  Iquique,  with  40,000  inhabitants, 
the  present  center  of  the  nitrate  industry;  Antofagasta,  with  almost  33,ooo  inhab- 
itants; Taltal,  a  port  of  about  11,000,  from  which  copper  and  silver  and  nitrate  of 
Cachinal  are  shipped.  These  nitrate  provinces  have  a  population  of  about  300,000, 
distributed  mostly  in  the  larger  cities  of  the  coast,  in  the  nitrate  plants  and  in  the 
mines  of  copper  and  silver  in  the  interior.  The  entire  population  is  dependent  upon 
the  nitrate  industry,  in  which  50,000  men  are  employed,  and  belonging  mostly  to  the 
rugged  lower  Chilean  class,  the  so-called  "Roto,"  with  an  admixture  of  Bolivian 
Indians  and  a  considerable  proportion  of  Peruvians.  In  1909  over  84,000,000  hun- 
dredweigfft  of  nitrate  were  produced,  and  the  industry  is  doing  at  present  well  with 
an  improvement  in  the  market  quotations  and  the  great  increase  in  the  world  con- 
sumption of  the  product.  The  nitrate  combination,  which  since  the  war  of  the 
Pacific  has  controlled  the  exportation  of  nitrate  from  Chile,  and  which  was  under 
the  special  protection  of  the  Chilean  Government  for  the  purpose  of  controlling 
prices,  came  to  an  end  about  a  year  ago  and  has  not  since  been  renewed,  and  con- 
ditions have  remained  very  satisfactory.  Indications  are  to  the  effect  that  a  good 
profit  has  been  realized  in  spite  of  augmented  production.  About  40  per  cent,  of 
the  total  number  of  firms  engaged  in  this  business  are  English,  followed  closely  by 
the  Chileans  with  a  quota  of  production  almost  equal  to  that  of  the  British.  Ger- 
many has  lately  entered  the  field  with  great  strength,  and  now  claims  n  per  cent, 
of  the  total  saltpeter  here  produced.  American  capital  has  within  the  last  two  or 
three  years  purchased  some  valuable  properties,  and  it  is  hoped  others  may  enter  the 
field,  as  the  opening  is  a  good  one.  The  use  of  nitrate  for  agricultural  purposes  in 
the  world  at  large  is  being  more  thoroughly  appreciated,  and  in  the  United  States 
the  importations  have  almost  quadrupled  in  the  last  four  years. 

Certainly  one  of  the  great  obstacles  encountered  in  the  past  to  the  healthy 
development  of  trade  with  Chile  has  been  the  instability  of  the  Chilean  circulating 
medium.  The  Chilean  merchant  pays  for  the  foreign  commodity  on  a  gold  basis,  but 
his  customers  buy  the  goods  in  the  irredeemable  paper  currency.  During  the  short 
time  in  which  I  was  in  Chile  I  saw  the  value  of  the  paper  currency  fall  from  about 
13^2  pence  to  8  pence  when  the  crisis  following  the  great  earthquake  and  the  effects 
of  universal  and  unrestrained  speculation  had  brought  anarchy  into  the  Chilean 
market.  You  will  be  interested  to  know  that  for  some  years  the  value  of  the  Chilean 
peso  has  remained  between  the  extremes  of  10  and  n  pence,  and  that  the  future  of  the 
Chilean  currency  is  a  bright  one,  making  for  that  stability,  affording  every  encour- 
agement to  the  proper  normal  improvement  of  commercial  relations. 

Chile  has  a  parcels  post  convention  with  the  United  States,  and  the  amount  of 
business  transacted  under  the  terms  of  this  agreement  is  steadily  increasing,  with 
the  special  advantages  such  an  arrangement  presents  to  the  exporter.  The  customs 
regulations  of  Chile  are  ably  administered  and  the  officials  are  unusually  obliging 
and  accommodating  toward  shippers,  but  a  shipment  following  the  usual  course 
requiries  the  attention  of  a  customs  broker,  and  may  be  sometimes  held  up  many 
weeks  in  the  congestion  of  traffic  in  the  warehouses  at  the  port.  The  advantage  of 
the  parcels  post  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  consignment  goes  directly  to  the  consignee 
without  the  intervention  of  the  custom-house  broker,  and  may  be  opened  with  a 
small  charge  of  a  few  cents  for  the  making  out  of  papers  and  inspection  on  the  basis 
of  details  furnished  to  the  postmaster  here  covering  the  weight  in  kilos,  value  and 
kind  of  goods.  The  trade  by  the  parcels  post  shows  a  steady  and  considerable 
increase.  During  1909  merchandise  to  the  value  of  about  $950,000  American  currency 
entered  Chile  through  this  channel,  of  which  the  United  States  has  not  yet  taken 
more  than  10  per  cent. 

After  these  somewhat  rambling  remarks  I  would  like  to  add  a  few  words 
regarding  trade  representation  along  pioneer  commercial  lines.  There  are  only  a 

146 


few  manufacturers'  representatives  active  in  Chile  and  several  commission  houses 
doing  business  on  the  basis  of  2j/>  to  5  per  cent.  Undoubtedly  the  facilities  for  the 
extension  of  trade  offered  by  the  firms  already  established  in  the  field  are  great,  but 
the  sphere  for  the  development  of  trade  through  the  medium  of  commercial  travelers 
is  one  that  should  be  carefully  examined.  Before  sending  a  representative  to  Chile 
the  most  conservative  and  safest  way  undoubtedly  is  to  go  down  to  the  country  and 
look  over  the  field  of  possible  opportunity,  and  then,  if  the  results  of  this  investiga- 
tion are  favorable,  to  send  a  representative  do\vn  to  make  a  personal  canvas. 

Here  something  ought  to  be  said  regarding  the  qualities  that  look  to  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  representative.  The  South  American  has  susceptibilities  which  are 
as  strong  as  our  own,  but  sometimes  manifest  themselves  in  a  rather  unexpected 
way  and  along  quite  different  lines  from  those  we  instinctively  consult  in  the  United 
States.  Except  in  Valparaiso,  English  is  little  spoken  in  the  trade  centers  of  Chile, 
and  no  one  should  go  to  South  America  with  the  idea  of  covering  the  entire  situation 
without  possessing  a  knowledge  of  Spanish  and  without  a  clearly  marked  disposition 
to  take  serious  account  of  differences  of  habit  which  are  as  rational  and  well  founded 
to  the  South  American  mind  as  they  appear  unjustified  and  even  absurd  through  the 
spectacles  of  American  training. 

MR.  JANES,  continuing:  I  did  not  touch  upon  some  of  the  most  important 
points,  but  I  would  be  very  glad  to  answer  any  questions  that  I  may  be  able  to  in  re- 
gard to  the  Chilean  situation  that  may  be  asked. 

QUESTION  :  Since  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  next  to  the  consumption  of 
soap,  the  development  of  the  printing  trade  is  the  surest  indicator  of  progress  and 
civilization  of  a  country,  I  would  like  to  know  if  you  can  give  us  some  information  in 
regard  to  the  development  of  newspapers  and  the  printing  trade  in  Chile.  I  would 
like  to  get  that  opinion  from  you. 

MR.  JANES:  I  can  only  say,  in  general,  that  the  press,  speaking  of  the  daily 
publications,  is  in  a  very  high  state  of  development  in  Chile.  For  instance,  the  El 
Mercurio  is  published  in  Santiago,  in  Antofagasta,  Valparaiso  and  also  Iquique,  and 
the  circulation  runs  to  a  very  high  figure,  indeed.  There  are  many  newspapers  in 
Chile  which  have  a  large  circulation.  The  publication  of  books  in  Chile,  the  general 
printing  industry  of  books  and  pamphlets  and  advertising  material  of  all  kinds  is  also 
very  highly  developed,  and  American  machinery  is  being  quite  extensively  used  there. 
The  Zig-Zag,  which  belongs  to  Augustin  Edwards,  formerly  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs,  is  equipped  entirely  with  United  States  machinery,  and  I  know  that  the 
Mercurio  in  Santiago  is.  And  I  believe  that  the  plants  in  the  other  cities  I  men- 
tioned are  also  equipped  with  American  machinery  for  the  most  part,  at  least. 

MR.  LINDSAY:  Mr.  Janes,  is  it  safe  to  say  that  the  journalistic  press  of  Latin 
America  is  quite  on  a  par  with  our  own  all  over  the  country. 

MR.  JANES  :  Yes,  indeed ;  in  fact,  I  would  say — though  I  probably  should  care- 
fully guard  this  answer  with  exceptions — I  believe  that  the  press  in  South  America  is 
far  more  advanced  in  the  way  of  supplying  readable  material  to  the  public  than  that 
of  the  United  States.  The  Commercio  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  the  Prensa  and  other  papers 
•of  Argentina,  the  Mercurio  of  Santiago  and  the  Commercio  of  Lima  are  magnificent 
sheets.  It  is  too  bad  we  have  not  more  sheets  of  that  character  in  this  country. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :     We  are  very  grateful  to  you,  Mr.  Janes. 

MR.  C.  R.  DONALDSON,  of  the  Bureau  of  Manufactures,  it  has  been  requested 
that  you  make  a  statement  in  answer  to  a  question  in  regard  to  the  Directory  of  Pur- 
chasers and  Manufacturers  abroad. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  C.  R.  DONALDSON,  OF  THE  BUREAU 

OF  MANUFACTURES,  DEPARTMENT  OF 

COMMERCE  AND  LABOR 

Mr.  DONALDSON  said: 

So  many  inquiries  have  developed  in  the  past  few  days  in  regard  to  the  World 
Trade  Directory  that  I  have  been  requested  to  make  a  few  statements  in  explanation 
of  it.  It  had  its  foundation  in  a  very  small  way.  Consuls  who  were  active  in  making 
reports  on  the  openings  for  the  sale  of  various  goods  would  supplement  their  reports 
by  lists  of  names  of  probable  purchasers.  Those  were  all  filed  in  due  course,  and  in 
a  number  of  years  we  had  a  large  collection.  They  were  very  much  scattered, 
though,  and  as  time  went  on  the  manufacturers  of  the  country  wanted  large  lists. 

H7 


Well  from  the  files  of  the  office  we  could  only  give  them  partial  lists,  and  the  only 
wav  that  we  could  finally  satisfy  them  all  was  to  compile  something  of  a  general 
character  for  the  whole  world,  and  that  is  what  we  have  been  engaged  in  doing. 
So  that  when  a  man  took  up  the  trade,  for  instance,  in  Brazil,  we  would  not  only 
give  him  the  importers  of  automobiles  in  Rio,  Bahia  and  a  few  other  places,  but  all 
Brazil.  So  that  is  the  result. 

Now  then,  in  regard  to  the  Consular  service  1  have  a  few  remarks  to  make. 

Some  years  ago  I  attended  the  production  at  the  National  Theater  in  this  city 
of  a  comedy  entitled  the  "Yankee  Consul."  The  scene  was  laid  in  a  South  American 
country  Colonel  Roosevelt  was  in  a  box,  and  heartily  applauded  Raymond  Hitch- 
cock's clever  and  amusing  presentation  of  a  somewhat  typical  consul  of  the  day— cool, 
debonnair  and  in  immaculate  white  flannels  out  for  a  good  time.  His  evenings  were 
spent  in  frivolity,  the  balance  of  the  night  "sub-rosa,"  and  the  daytime  in  sleeping  oft 
the  effects  of  too  many  libations.  He  was  revived  the  next  afternoon  by  a  hot  soda 
and  a  pillow  of  ice  for  his  weary  head,  to  enable  him  to  repeat  the  nightly  perform- 
ance But  he  was  a  hero  in  rescuing  benighted  damsels.  He  might  even  have  made  a 
first-class  commercial  consul  had  our  exporters  been  sufficiently  interested  to  seek  his 
aid.  The  play  was  received  with  laughter,  not  only  in  Washington,  but  throughout 
its  tour  of  the  United  States.  I  heard  no  criticism  of  it  at  the  time.  Such  a  play  could 
not  be  appropriately  presented  in  American  theaters  today.  You  cannot  run  counter 
to  the  national  love  of  fair  play,  and  no  audience  in  the  United  States  would  accept 
such  a  portrayal  of  the  American  consular  service  as  now  constituted  under  the  merit 
system  of  entrance  and  promotion.  The  body  politic  does  not  fully  realize  the  won- 
derful change  and  improvement  that  has  taken  place  in  our  consular  work  and  per- 
sonnel, but  it  comprehends  to  some  extent  the  businesslike  methods  and  active  com- 
mercial endeavors  of  our  modern  Yankee  consul.  Manufacturers  and  tradesmen, 
however,  not  only  realize,  but  are  enthusiastic  over  the  energy  displayed  by  consuls  in 
helping  to  open  up  new  markets.  You  have  already  listened  this  week  to  the  typical 
American  consuls  of  the  present  time.  The  exporter  daily  visits  the  Bureau  of  Manu- 
factures and  tells  of  the  benefits  he  has  received  and  the  orders  for  merchandise  that 
have  been  secured  through  the  combined  team  work  of  the  bureau  and  the  consuls. 
The  bureau  is  the  clearing-house  for  information  from  every  point  on  the  globe  which 
will  benefit  American  manufacturing  interests.  There  are  mighty  few  would  do 
business  on  industrial  affairs  that  do  not  thereby  receive  some  attention.  I  do  not 
recall  that  we  helped  outfit  Peary  in  his  dash  for  the  North  Pole,  but  some  enterpris- 
ing consul  in  the  Pacific — probably  the  representative  at  Punta  Arenas,  Chile,  on  the 
Straits  of  Magellan — called  attention  to  the  need  of  Lieutenant  Shackleton  for  some 
handy  ponies  in  his  search  for  the  South  Pole.  Requests  come  in  for  everything  from 
a  pin  to  a  locomotive. 

I  wish  to  offer  a  word  on  how  American  business  men  may  directly  help  to  fur- 
ther improve  the  consular  service.  Y'pu  can  ask  that  consuls  be  sent  to  visit  your 
chambers  of  commerce  for  better  acquaintance,  you  can  instruct  your  foreign  travelers 
to  visit  every  consulate  in  their  itinerary,  and  you  can  ascertain  in  Washington  how 
poorly  the  offices  of  consulates  are  equipped  in  a  clerical  way,  and  give  your  moral 
support  for  remedying  this  defect.  For  instance,  our  consulate  general  at  Rio  de 
Janeiro  has  struggled  along  for  years  with  only  one  clerk,  who  is  also  assistant 
consul  general,  acting  vice  consul  general,  etc.,  etc. ;  another  clerk  is  about  to  be  added, 
the  total  cost  of  both  to  be  $3500  a  year.  The  German  consulate  at  Rio  has  a  staff 
of  12  to  15  men,  for  which  is  expended  $39,000  a  year,  the  main  object  being  to  pro- 
mote German  trade  in  Brazil.  You  know,  too,  how  persistent  and  thorough  are  the 
Teutons,  and  you  will  readily  perceive  with  such  an  equipment  why  the  sale  of  Ger- 
man goods  now  surpasses  the  sale  of  American  goods  in  Brazil,  notwithstanding  the 
preferential  tariff  accorded  there  to  certain  of  our  productions  alone.  Speaking  fur- 
ther about  the  equipment  of  our  consulate  at  Rio,  those  who  have  been  at  Rio,  those 
who  have  been  in  the  Brazilian  capital,  know  about  the  high  cost  of  living,  and  not 
the  cost  of  high  living,  as  with  us.  Hence  an  American  consular  clerk  going  down 
there  a  few  years  ago  at  $1200  a  year  found  that  his  salary  would  just  pay  for  board 
and  lodging.  In  such  cases  a  clerk  must  depend  on  the  charity  of  the  old  folks  at 
home.  Now,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  in  an  economic  sense  we  are  one  big  American 
family,  and  that  we  are  all  "the  old  folks  at  home,"  and  can  in  one  way  or  another 
sustain  our  boys  out  on  the  firing  line  of  commercial  endeavor. 

Furthermore,  you  are  also  aware  that  consular  agents  of  the  United  States  are 
located  in  various  cities  where  we  have  no  regular  consulates.  These  consular  agents 
are  still  paid  in  fees  for  the  invoices  they  sign,  and  their  income  ranges  from  $2  to 

148 


$1000  a  year.  They  arc  sometimes  of  American  nationality,  but  more  often  not.  I 
think  that  you  will  agree  with  me  that  they,  as  well  as  our  consular  clerks,  should  all 
be  American  to  the  core.  But  with  a  billion-dollar  national  expense  already  it  is 
apparent  that  additional  appropriations  for  these  consular  agents  and  clerks  must 
come  very  slowly.  Now,  the  manufacturers  of  the  country  are  benefiting  by  this  great 
work,  and  often  express  it  financially.  This  is  impossible  in  most  avenues,  but  here  is 
your  opportunity.  Make  up  funds  in  your  chambers  of  commerce  and  industrial  asso- 
ciations to  help  sustain  the  American  consular  agents  in  South  American  as  a  begin- 
ning. They  are  permitted  to  engage  in  business,  and  that  business  could  be  solely 
confined  to  commercial  work  for  American  wares.  You  could  also  subsidize  young 
men  w-ho  would  enter  various  business  houses  from  the  Rio  Grande  to  the  Rio  de  la 
Plata.  It  would  pay  handsomely.  To  inaugurate  the  movement  it  is  suggested  that 
each  chamber  of  commerce  secure  one  or  two  bright  fellows  and  seek  the  co-operation 
of  the  Government  in  Washington  in  placing  them  where  they  may  acquire  a  knowl- 
edge of  business  and  economic  affairs  in  the  republics  to  the  south  of  us.  Our  young 
men  need  that  association  with  the  peoples  of  those  countries,  not  merely  for  com- 
mercial reasons.  They  need  to  absorb  the  courtesy,  the  suavity  and  the  cordiality  of 
Latin  Americans.  In  our  continuous  climbing  on  to  higher  planes  of  civilization  pol- 
ished manners  and  a  broad  hospitality  of  mind  and  soul  are  important.  We  want  to 
enlarge  our  South  American  markets,  but  still  more  should  we  get  more  closely  ac- 
quainted with  the  citizens  there,  with  the  beauty  of  their  language,  its  poetry  and  his- 
tory, its  ideals  and  imagery,  and  with  the  advanced  thought  as  viewed  there.  All  this 
should  result  in  our  mutual  benefit. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  Are  there  any  questions  to  be  asked  of  Mr.  Don- 
aldson? I  am  going  to  say  that  Mr.  Baldwin,  the  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Manu- 
factures, will  speak,  and  then  perhaps  we  will  have  the  questions  follow  that,  because 
they  are  both  connected  with  the  same  section.  This  should  appeal  especially  to  you, 
because  the  Bureau  of  Manufactures  is  making  herculean  efforts  now  to  get  into 
closer  touch  with  the  manufacturers  of  the  country  and  bring  the  consuls  of  the 
United  States  into  closer  touch  with  them  through  the  bureau.  It  is  entitled  to  the 
hearty  support  of  our  business  men.  This  International  Union  is  constantly  aware  of 
the  splendid  work  it  is  doing,  and  if,  as  a  result  of  Mr.  Baldwin's  remarks,  you  have 
some  question  suggested  as  to  how  you  can  get  into  closer  touch  with  the  bureau  or 
with  the  consuls,  I  want  you  to  ask  him. 

ADDRESS   OF   MR.  A.   H.   BALDWIN,  CHIEF   OF   THE 

BUREAU  OF  MANUFACTURES,  DEPARTMENT 

OF  COMMERCE  AND  LABOR 

Mr.  BALDWIN  said : 

Gentlemen,  I  really  feel  that  I  am  sailing  under  false  colors  in  speaking  at  this 
Conference,  as  I  am  not  an  expert  in  this  matter  of  Latin  American  trade,  and  you 
have  had  the  privilege  of  listening  all  the  week  to  those  who  really  know  about  the 
question.  I  do  know,  however,  about  my  own  office,  and  it  has  seemed  to  me  that 
perhaps  the  most  useful  contribution  that  I  could  make  to  this  meeting  would  be  to 
describe  brielly  the  work  of  the  Bureau  of  Manufactures  in  its  relation  to  this  great 
question  of  the  expansion  of  trade  with  Latin  American  countries.  I  have  been  sur- 
prised many  times  to  find  that  business  men  in  the  United  States  are  still  unfamiliar 
with  our  work  and  with  the  work  of  other  bureaus  of  the  United  States  Government. 
The  American  manufacturer  or  exporter  cannot  afford  to  overlook  or  ignore  any  of 
the  various  activities  of  the  Federal  Government  in  the  work  of  trade  promotion. 
This  International  Pan  American  Union,  the  Department  of  State,  through  its  various 
bureaus,  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  through  the  Bureaus  of  Statistics, 
Manufactures,  Labor  and  Standards,  and  to  some  extent  the  branches  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  are  all  colaborers  in  this  field  and  aiding  to  secure  the  same 
result — the  commercial  prosperity  of  our  country.  The  Department  of  Agriculture 
has  shown  the  way  to  transform  its  expenditures  for  investigation,  experiment  and 
publicity  into  millions  of  increased  production  and  value  on  the  farm.  Much  of  the 
success  of  that  work  is  due  to  the  intimate  relations  which  exist  between  that  depart- 
ment and  the  agricultural  associations,  experiment  stations,  farmers'  unions,  granges, 
etc.  The  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  established  in  1903,  has  entered  a 
similar  field  with  its  various  bureaus,  and  similar  co-operation  must  be  established 

149 


•  HAITI  • 


TAN  AM  i.w  i  CAN  Union 

WatK  PC 


the  latter  department  and  the  commercial  and  industrial  interests  of  the 
country  before  its  efforts  can  have  their  full  successful  effect.  The  Bureau  of  Manu- 
factures was  established  in  1005  for  the  purpose,  as  Mated  in  the  organic  law.  of  foster 
ing.  promoting  and  developing  the  various  manufacturing  industries  of  the  United 
..id  in  securing  markets  for  the  same  at  home  and  abroad,  by  gathering  and 
publishing  useful  information  and  by  any  other  methods  which  Congress  might  direct 
or  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor  might  deem  advisable.  \Ve  hope  later  to 
extend  our  work  to  other  fields,  such  as  the  distribution  of  samples,  etc.,  but  thus  fai 
the  resource^  of  the  bureau  have  been  devoted  almost  entirely  to  gathering  and  pub- 
lishing useful  trade  information,  ai.d  1  shall  indicate  the  various  forms  of  publicity 
which  are  at  our  command  :md  the  sources  of  the  material  which  we  distribute. 

First  of  all.  the  P-ureau  of  Manufactures  is  the  publication  office  for  the  daily 
paper  which  is  written  almoM  entirely  by  American  consuls,  who,  as  you  know,  are 
very  alert  advance  agents  for  American  trade.  Our  office  edits  and  publishes  the  Daily 
Consular  and  Trade  Reports,  and  there  is  ample  testimony  to  the  great  value  of  this 
little  journal.  Most  of  you  are  no  doubt  familiar  with  it.  and  those  who  are  not  should 
make  an  effort  to  secure  a  place  on  our  mailing  list.  The  present  edition  is  nearly 
K.OOO.  and  the  law  limits  the  numner  that  may  be  printed  to  2O,OOO  copies,  although 
\tend  this  limit  as  soon  as  it  is  reached.  The  Daily  Consular 

and  Trade  Reports  print  the  numerous  "Trade  Opportunities"  in  foreign  countries 
which  cor.Mils  report,  and  millions  of  increased  trade  have  resulted  from  these  trade 
amity  notices.  \Ve  have  on  file  letters  from  hundreds  of  firms  stating  that  these 
"trade  opportunit\"  notices  from  consuls  have  brought  orders  for  their  goods  from 
all  parts  of  the  world. 

The  bureau  also  publishes  the  annual  report  known  as  "Commercial  Relations 
of  the  United  Slates."  This  volume  contains  the  annual  reports  of  consular  officers, 
and  constitutes  practically  a  commercial  history  of  the  entire  world  as  seen  through 
the  eyes  of  our  consuls.  Its  distribution  has  been  somewhat  limited,  but  it  contains 
a  very  valuable  record  of  the  commercial  progress  of  each  country. 

Still  another  valuable  form  of  publicity  which  is  under  our  charge  is  the  publi- 
cation of  bulletins  and  pamphlets  on  trade  conditions  in  foreign  countries  with  respect 

vial  products  or  individual  countries.  'These  bulletins  are  compiled  from  the 
reports  of  consular  officers  or  contain  the  results  of  the  investigations  of  our  own  com- 
mercial agents.  You  have  had  the  opportunity  to  listen  to  four  of  these  commercial 
agents.  Mr.  W.  A.  Graham  Clark,  who  has  rendered  the  most  valuable  reports  in 
conditions  \\ith  respect  to  cotton  textiles  in  the  Latin  American  coun- 
tries; Mr.  Arthur  IV  Pntman.  who  lias  reported  in  regard  to  the  boot  and  shoe  trade 
in  the  same  part  of  the  world  ;  Mr.  Mack  H.  Davis,  who  reported  on  markets  for  flour 
in  European  countries  and  the  Levant,  and  Mr.  Charles  M.  Pepper,  who  reported  on 
general  ttade  conditions  practically  all  over  the  world.  'The  titles  of  these  bulletins 
will  indicate  the  wide  range  of  subjects  covered,  such  as  Packing  for  Fxport.  Winning 
un  Markets.  Flour  'Trade  in  South  America.  'Trade  in  Cottonseed-Oil  Products 
in  various  parts  of  Furope.  Lace  Making,  Cotton  Textiles  in  South  America.  Trade 
Conditions  in  Ecuador.  Machine- Tool  'Trade.  InduMrial  Conditions  in  Europe, 
Municipal  Art  Commissions  and  Street  Lighting.  Municipal  Markets  and  Slaughter- 
houses. Coal  Trade  in  Latin  America,  and  Agricultural  Machinery  in  Foreign  v 
tries.  These  pamphlets,  to  which  we  are  constantly  adding,  constitute  Suable 

commercial  library  for  any  firm  interested  in  export  trade. 

The  bureau  is  also  charged  by  Congress  with  the  duty  of  translating  and  pub- 
lishing the  tariffs  of  foreign  countries.  This  work  is  under  the  charge  of  our  tariff 
expert.  Dr.  Frank  R.  Rutter.  In  addition  to  publishing  foreign  tariffs  by  countries, 
the  bureau  is  endeavoring  to  compile  the  tariffs  of  the  world  by  products,  and  as 
facilities  are  provided  it  is  hoped  to  issue  bulletins;  for  example,  the  tariffs  on  ma- 
chinery of  various  clases.  tariffs  on  cotton  goods  or  other  similar  produc: 

Additional  publicity  is  secured  for  trade  information  through  the  issuance  of 
confidential  bulletins  and  circulars  where  the  information  secured  by  the  bureau  par- 
takes to  some  extent  of  a  confidential  chara* 

The  office  is  endeavoring  to  establish  as  complete  mailing  lists  as  possible  of 
exporters  in  this  country,  classified  by  products,  in  order  that  this  useful  information 
may  be  transmitted  direct  to  the  firms  most  concerned,  or  in  order  that  infomation 
about  machinery  shall  reach  mannt'acture.s  of  machinery  and  information  about  tex 
tiles  be  sent  to  textile  manufacturers  and  exporters  only. 

Still  another  publication  which  should  be  of  the  greatest  interest  to  the  dele- 


gates  of  this  Conference  is  the  forthcoming  World  Trade  Directory,  which  is  now  in 
press  in  the  Government  Printing  Office.  This  Directory  has  been  compiled  through 
the  assistance  of  consular  officers,  and  contains  the  names  of  more  than  125,000 
prospective  or  possible  purchasers  of  American  products  in  foreign  countries.  The 
portion  of  this  Directory  devoted  to  Central  and  South  America  is  very  complete,  and 
the  book  should  constitute  a  very  important  adjunct  to  the  facilities  of  any  firm  inter- 
ested in  trade  with  the  countries  south  of. the  United  States.  Congress  has  fixed  a 
price  of  $5  per  volume  for  this  book,  and  nearly  3000  firms  have  already  indicated  their 
intention  to  purchase  it.  It  is  the  plan  of  the  bureau  to  maintain  this  Directory,  if 
possible,  by  revisions  from  time  to  time,  and  it  is  believed  that  as  issued  it  contains 
a  larger  number  of  what  might  be  called  live  names  than  have  ever  heretofore  been 
placed  at  the  service  of  American  exporters. 

It  will  be  seen  from  these  various  activities  of  the  bureau  that  its  service  is  of 
importance  to  the  members  of  this  Conference.  We  are  striving  to  extend  and  develop 
the  work  of  the  office  to  keep  pace  with  the  growing  interest  in  foreign  trade,  and  I 
wish  to  express  my  strong  interest,  personal  and  official,  in  the  objects  of  this  Confer- 
ence. With  every  other  branch  of  the  United  States  Government,  the  Bureau  of 
Manufactures  is  eager  to  contribute  and  perform  worthily  its  share  in  the  development 
of  this  great  work  of  trade  expansion. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  Mr.  Baldwin's  remarks  have  been  very  interest- 
ing I  know  among  these  representative  business  men  that  there  are  certain  questions 
they  would  like  to  ask  about  how  to  get  in  closer  touch  with  the  Bureau  of  Manufac- 
tures or  with  the  consuls  through  them. 

QUESTION:  May  I  ask  if  there  is  any  possibility  in  the  near  future  of  there 
being  anything  gotten  out  in  the  way  of  an  official  translation  of  the  customs  tariffs 
of  the  world,  published  by  the  Government,  because  all  we  have  now  are  private  com- 
pilations, and  they  are  not  entirely  trustworthy.  In  fact,  I  only  know  of  one,  and  it 
is  not  trustworthy.  It  would  be  of  more  assistance  to  have  it  all  in  a  large  volume 
published  annually. 

MR.  BALDWIN  :  I  would  be  very  glad  to  do  that  if  we  had  the  money.  We 
recently  published  the  French  tariffs,  and  we  are  working  now  on  the  tariff  of  Cuba. 
Today  if  we  had  the  means  of  publishing  the  tariffs  of  the  entire  world  in  one  volume 
we  would  be  glad  to  do  it.  Mr.  Barrett's  office  covers  the  South  American  countries 
in  that  line. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  want  Mr.  Wells  at  the  conclusion  of  this  to 
explain  just  what  we  are  doing  on  the  tariff  matter  in  just  a  word. 

MR.  WELLS  :  We  are  going  to,  as  far  as  we  can,  bring  out  the  tariffs  of  Latin 
America  currently — I  say.  as  far  as  we  are  able  to  do  so.  A  great  many  of  the  tariffs 
of  Latin  America  are  only  understandable  to  the  tariff  experts,  and  not  understand- 
able to  the  ordinary  manufacturer  or  exporter :  for  instance,  the  tariff  of  Argentina- 
no  man  could  pick  that  up  and  read  it  as  a  book  and  make  head  or  tail  out  of  it.  Per- 
haps some  gentlemen  here  have  tried  to  do  that  very  thing.  We  are  publishing  now 
the  tariff  of  Argentina.  Now,  that  is  a  tariff  law,  not  the  appraisement  schedule,  but 
the  tariff,  and  it  is  explained  by  means  of  statistical  reports  through  an  index,  an 
attempt  to  lead  you  up  to  the  actual  classification  in  the  statistical  reports  of  the  im- 
ports of  the  country.  In  all  cases  of  the  tariffs  very  often  manufacturers  find  this 
point  confusing;  that  tariffs  are  not  compiled  on  the  same  basis  that  you  undertake 
to  establish  trade.  Tariffs  are  made  for  revenue  or  protection ;  they  are' governmental 
laws,  while  you  are  looking  at  the  end  from  the  purely  commercial  standpoint.  The 
statistics  which  grow  out  of  the  tariffs,  in  the  classification  or  the  real  basis  of  all 
statistical  information,  are  not  upon  the  same  lines  that  you  manufacture  your  goods. 
You  find  things  classed  together  very  often  that  you,  in  business,  do  not  class  together ; 
but  it  is  necessary  to  do  that,  because  the  statistical  information  follows  from  the  tariff. 

We  are  trying,  so  far  as  possible,  in  these  tariffs  to  explain  these  things  so 

they  can  be  understood,  so  you  can  know  what  the  tariffs  are.    The  tariffs  of  many 

countries  differ.    They  are  founded  on  a  very  different  basis  in  many  cases.    The  rates 

of  duty  are  very  different,  and  the  other  day  someone  asked  the  question  here  as  to 

what  the  packing  was.     You  cannot  answer  that.     As  a  general  proposition  there  is 

allowance  for  cases  in  Latin  America.    The  consul  at  La  Guaira  (Mr.  Manning)  says 

•  Is. no  .alIoTwance  for  Venezuela,  and  that  is  true :  everything  goes  in  by  weight ; 

verything  in  Honduras  goes  in  by  the  half  kilo  classification.    Each  is  different-the 

France,  Belgium  and  the  United  States,  and  vou  have  got  to  look  at  it  from 

that  standpoint. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:    Dr.  Frank  R.  Rutter,  of  the  Bureau  of  Manufac- 

152 


lures,  is  here,  and  while  on  the  program  for  tomorrow,  possibly  he  might  supplement 
that  with  a  few  words. 

DR.  RUTTER  :  1  do  not  think  I  care  this  morning  to  add  any  remarks  to  what 
Mr.  Wells  has  said,  except  to  emphasize  the  point  he  has  made.  The  tariffs  are  pre- 
pared in  different  ways  and  are  difficult  to  understand  as  to  requirements  except  by 
the  closest  study  to  ascertain  what  the  meaning  is.  I  hope  to  cover  this  point  a  little 
more  fully  in  my  remarks  tomorrow. 

The  inquiry  was  made  by  the  gentleman  on  the  floor  whether  the  Bureau  of 
Manufactures  plans  to  get  out  a  general  edition  of  the  customs  tariffs  of  the  whole 
world.  So  far  as  we  can  judge  by  the  letters  that  come  in  to  us,  such  a  compilation 
would  not  be  of  very  great  assistance.  If  this  conclusion  is  a  faulty  one,  I  should  be 
glad  to  have  correspondence  come  into  the  bureau  and  point  out  our  mistake,  but  so 
far  as  we  can  judge  by  the  correspondence  that  we  are  receiving,  a  business  man  is 
interested  only  in  one  line,  a  second  in  another  and  one  in  a  third,  and  compilations 
that  will  take  up  this  phase  of  specific  fields  and  cover  them  for  different  countries 
will,  it  seems  to  us,  be  of  more  general  service  than  any  complete  compilations  of  the 
tariffs  of  the  individual  countries ;  and  at  the  same  time  we  are  as  rapidly  as  possible 
looking  up  those  countries  with  which  our  trade  is  most  important.  We  have  pub- 
lished the  tariffs  of  Germany,  France,  Great  Britain,  Italy  and  Mexico,  among  the 
South  American  countries.  We  have  the  Cuban  tariff  now  in  press,  and  we  expect  to 
continue  this  line;  but  we  wish  to  emphasize  more  particularly  the  publications  of 
group  tariffs  not  according  to  countries,,  but  according  to  requirements. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  That  is  very  good.  Just  before  we  pass  on,  is 
there  any  direct  question,  without  elaborating  debate?  Mr.  Wells  is  here  and  Mr. 
Rutter,  and  the}7  may  be  asked  any  question. 

QUESTION  :  I  should  like  to  ask  the  gentlemen  to  what  extent  the  United 
States  is  treated  as  the  most  favored  nation  in  the  tariffs  of  the  Latin  American 
Republics  ? 

DR.  RUTTER  :  The  imports  from  the  United  States  are  admitted  into  most  of 
the  countries  of  Latin  America  at  rates  as  low  as  those  applied  to  imports  from  any 
other  country.  With  Brazil  the  United  States  enjoys  a  preferential  tariff;  in  Nica- 
ragua, Haiti,  and  I  think  Salvador,  there  are  a  few  articles  which  are  admitted  at 
lower  rates  from  some  other  countries,  notably,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  for  I  have  not 
looked  up  that  recently,  Germany  and  France.  Those  three  countries  import  from  the 
United  States,  but  only  a  small  group  of  articles,  and  by  special  treaty,  owing  to  the 
interpretation  of  those  countries  on  the  most  favored  nation  laws,  that  they  are  not 
considered  applicable  to  the  imports  from  the  United  States. 

MR.  KRAUSZ:  I  understand  that  the  Bureau  of  Manufactures  is  prepared  to 
furnish  lists  of  South  American  importers  and  merchants  that  would  like  to  get  in 
touch  with  American  manufacturers.  Are  those  lists  specialized  on  anything?  For 
example,  if  I  am  engaged  in  the  business  of  machinery,  and  I  ask  for  a  list,  will  I  get 
the  lists  on  insect  powder  or  drugs,  or  can  a  list  be  furnished  me  that  will  give  me 
the  information  as  to  the  special  line  in  which  I  am  interested? 

MR.  BALDWIN  :  That  trade  list  directory  is  classified  by  industries.  If  you 
write  to  the  bureau — we  cannot  give  it  extensively — but  if  you  tell  us  what  you  want 
we  can  turn  it  over  to  copyists  if  you  pay  for  it,  and  you  can  get  a  special  list  in  that 
way.  i 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Mr.  Root  will  be  here  tomorrow,  and  tonight 
we  are  to  have  a  very  interesting  lecture  by  Miss  Annie  S.  Peck,  the  celebrated  moun- 
tain climber,  with  a  wonderful  number  of  pictures  taken  in  Bolivia  and  Peru. 

I  want  to  say,  before  I  call  on  the  gentleman  who  is  to  speak  next,  simply  be- 
cause he  has  been  so  busy  assisting  me  that  you  have  seen  me  all  the  time.  I  want  to 
say  that  I  have  a  staff  of  most  efficient,  responsible  men  assisting  me  and  working 
very  hard,  all  about  down  stairs  and  elsewhere.  They  would  make  a  much  better 
sight,  many  of  them,  and  a  much  better  appearance  than  I,  but  as  the  executive  of  the 
institution  I  preside,  although  many  of  them  are  competent  to  do  it.  I  want  to  say 
that  they  have  been  of  inestimable  service  to  me  during  the  entire  time  I  have  been 
at  the  head  of  the  Union,  and  especially  the  assistant  director,  Mr.  Francisco  J. 
Yanes,  a  Latin  American  himself,  a  Venezuelan  by  birth,  who  has  served  efficiently 
in  the  diplomatic  and  consular  service  of  Venezuela,  who  was  the  representative  of 
this  institution  at  the  Pan  American  Conference  in  Buenos  Aires,  and  who  has  made 
an  intimate  and  careful  study  of  Latin  America,  and  knows  Latin  America  from 
the  Latin  American  standpoint  thoroughly.  I  have  profound  pleasure  in  presenting 
to  you  Mr.  Francisco  J.  Yanes,  the  assistant  director. 

153 


ADDRESS  OF  MR    FRANCISCO  J.  YANES,  THE  ASSISTANT 
DIRECTOR  OF  THE  PAN  AMERICAN  UNION 

Mr.  YANES  said : 

Gentlemen:  You  have  come  here  in  response  to  the  earnest  and  honest  appeal 
of  the  Director  General  of  the  Pan  American  Union,  to  exchange  views  regarding 
the  methods  to  be  adopted  in  fostering  the  commercial  interests  of  our  countries, 
north,  central,  and  south,  not  only  for  the  purpose  of  sending  to  our  neighboring 
republics  the  products  of  your  industry  and  manufacture,  but  also  with  the  object 
of  importing  from  them  a  larger  amount  of  raw  products,  of  investing  in  their  mines 
and  agricultural  enterprises  American  capital,  thus  establishing  stronger  bonds  of 
common  interest.  . 

In  view  of  the  near  completion  of  the  Panama  Canal,  this  is  a  matter  ol  the 
greatest  importance  to  all.  The  Canal  will  open  a  gate  heretofore  closed  to  direct 
traffic  between  the  western  shores  of  South  and  Central  America,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  eastern  and  southern  ports  of  the  United  States  on  the  other.  On  the  day 
when  the  waters  of  the  Pacific  shall  rush  into  the  new  bed  carved  in  the  rock  by  human 
ingenuity  and  American  enterprise,  a  new  commercial  and  industrial  era  will  dawn 
upon  this  hemisphere.  The  benefits  to  be  obtained  from  these  new  conditions  belong 
to  the  man  who  will  not  hesitate  to  take  steps  for  securing  in  advance  a  foothold  in 
the  prospective  trade;  the  man  who  will  not  hesitate  to  become  a  live  factor  in  the 
coming  economic  problems  of  our  America. 

But  you  cannot  go  blindfolded  into  this  new  field,  lest  your  efforts  miscarry 
for  want  of  proper  acquaintance  with  conditions  in  Latin  America.  It  has  occurred 
to  me  that,  while  you  have  come  here  to  listen  to  the  enlightening  discussion  by  ex- 
perts of  the  practical  means  of  establishing  a  mutually  profitable  trade,  it  would  not 
be  amiss  to  call  your  attention  at  the  same  time  to  the  main  characteristics  of  the  coun- 
tries and  peoples  with  whom  you  are  invited  to  trade,  to  meet  as  fellow-guests  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Pan  American  Union. 

Being  a  Latin  American  myself,  I  will  introduce  you  to  my  people,  in  so  far  as 
I  can,  so  that  those  among  you  who  are  not  acquainted  with  us  may  have  a  general 
idea  of  our  customs  and  habits,  likes  and  dislikes,  and  intellectual  and  material 
development. 

As  the  time  at  my  disposal  is  limited,  I  will  only  endeavor  to  give  you  a  brief 
synopsis  of  Latin  American  characteristics,  sufficient,  I  believe,  to  point  out  the  tem- 
peramental difference  to  be  reconciled  in  order  to  secure  that  degree  of  knowledge 
necessary  to  lay  the  foundation  of  closer  ties  of  friendship  and  business  relations 
based  upon  a  better  mutual  understanding. 

Of  the  20  Latin  American  countries,  Spanish  is  the  language  of  18;  Portuguese 
of  i,  Brazil,  and  French  of  I,  Haiti.  This  means  at  the  outset  that  the  controlling 
influence  that  must  needs  characterize  each  country  is  primarily  that  handed  down  to 
it  by  its  ancestors.  It  signifies  that  in  the  main  our  tastes,  likes  and  dislikes  are  not  the 
same  as  those  of  the  North  Americans,  scions  of  the  races  of  Northern  Europe.  Our 
education  is  based  upon  systems  applicable  to  our  needs  and  in  keeping  with  our 
ideals ;  our  legal  and  moral  standards  are  measured  according  to  a  different  concep- 
tion of  right  and  wrong ;  our  religious  beliefs  are  those  of  our  forefathers ;  our  literary 
tastes  have  been  formed  through  our  intellectual  intercourse  with  France ;  our  music 
is  languid  and  dreamy,  like  that  of  the  Latin  peoples ;  our  nature  is  polite  and  hos- 
pitable, generous  and  improvident.  Our  mentality  is  highly  developed,  and  our  mind 
is  restless,  both  by  heredity  and  by  reason  of  our  surroundings,  because  life  is  easy 
and  time  almost  an  unknown  factor,  since  there  is  no  strenuous  competition  to  spur 
our  ambition,  no  severe  change  of  seasons  to  compel  us  to  crowd  into  a  few  months  a 
work  that  can  be  done  day  by  day.  In  this  almost  enforced  idleness  we  may  find  the 
cause  of  many  a  political  disturbance  of  the  past.  Lack  of  population,  excess  of  nat- 
ural wealth,  absence  of  real  want,  have  been  hitherto  enemies  to  the  material  progress 
of  many  of  our  countries. 

This  is,  as  you  well  understand,  too  broad  a  generalization  of  the  characteristics 
%  1.njy.^?tln  Amencan  brothers,  a  hasty. picture  drawn  simply  to  show  you  the  super- 
ficial differences  that  you  will  find  in  dealing  with  them.    You  must  bear  in  mind  that 
1     -n^0*,  len  said  wlth  the  idea  of  castin&  any  reflection  on  Latin  Americans,  for 
you  will  rind  that  we  are  pre-eminently  fit  for  the  highest  exigencies  of  progress  and 
civilization,  a  people  adaptable  to  all  conditions  of  life,  eager  to  accept  and  welcome 
best,  ready  to  discard  old  systems  and  use  modern  methods  in  their  stead,  anxious 

154 


to  prosper  and  keep  pace  with  the  most  advanced  strides  of  civilization.  But,  conscious 
of  our  own  intelligence  and  masters  of  our  own  means,  we  resent  imposition,  we 
resent  being  looked  upon  as  an  inferior  people,  or  as  an  easy  prey  to  scheming  adven- 
turers or  ignorant  and  supercilious  travelers. 

Those  who  have  been  most  successful  in  establishing  a  profitable  trade  with 
Latin  America  are  those  who  have  created  our  needs,  catered  to  our  tastes  and  endeav- 
ored by  all  means  to  adapt  their  goods  to  our  wants  or  caprice,  and  not  tried  to  force 
us  to  buy  what  we  do  not  desire.  These  are  facts  that  must  be  borne  in  mind  by  those 
desiring  to  establish  commercial  relations  in  Latin  America,  in  order  to  obtain  the 
confidence,  respect  and  good-will  of  our  southern  friends,  and  through  this  win  the 
Latin  American  markets. 

For  the  sake  of  brevity  I  will  condense  into  a  few  rules  what  experience  in  the 
service  of  the  Pan  American  Union  has  taught  me  to  be  good  advice  to  those  intending 
to  do  business  in  Latin  America,  but  having  too  vague  an  idea  of  what  this  term  means 
and  what  are  the  requisites  necessary  for  becoming  acquainted  with  and  being  wel- 
comed by  our  people. 

The  term  "Latin  America"  includes  twenty  independent  countries,  the  aggregate 
area  of  which  measures  about  8,700,000  square  miles,  or  an  area  two  and  one-third 
times  larger  than  that  of  the  United  States,  not  counting  Alaska  and  the  insular  pos- 
sessions. 

The  unexploited  natural  wealth  of  the  Latin  American  countries  is  immense, 
and  only  needs  foreign  capital  and  energy  to  develop  it.  It  may  be  said,  therefore,  in 
general  terms,  that  all  kinds  of  opportunities  are  open  in  Latin  America  to  the  right 
man. 

While  there  is  a  general  similarity  of  origin  and  of  customs  in  this  vast  terri- 
tory, geographical  position,  geological  conditions,  climate  and  other  physical  and  racial 
factors  are  all  important  in  the  individual  development  of  these  republics.  What  may 
apply  to  a  particular  country  does  not  necessarily  apply  to  another. 

Language  is  also  a  factor  not  to  be  overlooked.  As  already  said,  Spanish, 
Portuguese  and  French  are  the  languages  of  Latin  America.  It  would  seem,  then,  in 
the  case  of  a  traveling  agent,  that  one  of  the  first  requisites  is  a  fair  knowledge  of  the 
speech  of  the  particular  country  he  desires  to  visit,  as  this  is  indispensable  to  get  in 
direct  touch  with  the  people,  in  order  to  study  their  wants  and  to  understand  their 
necessities.  In  the  case  of  the  merchant  who  desires  to  reach  those  markets  by  means 
of  catalogues,  the  greatest  care  should  be  exercised  in  selecting  translators,  to  prevent 
loss  through  faulty  translations. 

Those  desirous  of  establishing  a  successful  business  in  Latin  America  must  be 
readily  adaptable  to  the  new  environment  and  different  conditions,  and  willing  to 
make  friends  with  the  people  by  their  fair  and  uniform  treatment  of  all. 

Whenever  possible,  I  would  advise  the  establishing  of  an  agency  in  the  country 
under  a  competent  man,  who  knows  the  people  and  the  language,  and  is  tactful  and 
considerate  of  others. 

Business  methods,  social  customs  and  religious  beliefs  or  practice  should  always 
be  respected.  If  an  effort  is  made  to  introduce  new  ideas,  this  should  be  done  in  a 
way  not  calculated  to  give  offense  to  anyone,  but,  on  the  contrary,  to  enlist  support  in 
favor  of  the  innovation. 

Questionable  claims  or  concessions,  or  any  transactions  whatever  which  may 
lead  to  misunderstandings  with  tke  local  authorities,  should  be  carefully  avoided,  as 
well  as  taking  an  active  interest  in  local  politics,  or  any  other  act  which  may  entail 
the  forfeiture  of  the  rights  granted  to  aliens  by  the  laws  of  those  countries. 

The  fact  must  not  be  overlooked  that  while  Latin  American  legislation  grants 
to  American  citizens  the  same  civil  rights  that  natives  enjoy,  they  are  foreigners,  and 
as  such  amenable  to  the  alien  laws  of  the  country  where  they  reside,  and  that  a  for- 
eigner's undue  meddling  in  local  affairs  is  as  much  resented  in  Latin  America  as  it  is 
in  any  other  country. 

These  are  a  few  "hints"  which  I  hope  will  serve  those  desirous  of  entering  the 
field  of  Pan  American  commerce.  Gentlemen,  I  thank  you  for  your  attention. 

Thereupon  at  12.25  o'clock  P.  M.  the  Conference  took  a  recess  until  2  o'clock 

THURSDAY  AFTERNOON 

The  Conference  was  called  to  order  at  2.30  o'clock  P.  M.  by  the  Director 
General. 

155 


DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  going  to  ask  Mr.  Trazivuk,  of  the  Ward 
Steamship  Line,  to  give  us  about  five  minutes  of  direct  suggestions  on  packing,  and 
then  some  persons  can  ask  questions  on  that  subject. 

Mr.  Trazivuk  has  come  over  from  New  York  especially  to  talk  to  the  Pan 

MR  MARCOS  J.  TRAZIVUK,  of  the  Ward  Steamship  Line,  New  York :  I  beg  to 
call  your  attention  to  an  article  in  Leslie's  Weekly,  published  February  9th,  and  here 
is  what  I  have  to  say  in  reference  to  shipping  and  packing : 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  MARCOS  J.  TRAZIVUK,  OF  THE 

WARD  STEAMSHIP  LINE 
WHY  OUR  MERCHANTS  FAIL  IN  SOUTH  AMERICAN  TRADE 

Now  and  then  we  can  hear  how  successfully  we  are  increasing  our  exports  to 
South  America.  It  is  true  our  exports  are  increasing  every  year.  However,  our 
increases  are  not  nearly  as  large  as  those  of  England  and  Germany.  Unless  we 
change  our  tactics,  no  matter  what  we  do,  we  will  be  behind  the  European  countries 
for  an  indefinite  time.  During  the  nine  months  ending  with  September  last  imports 
to  Argentine  were  as  follows : 

From  the  United  States $34,267,019 

From  England , 82,799,593 

From  Germany 45>4°8,846 

From  the.se  figures  it  can  readily  be  seen  that  our  country  ranks  third  in 
exports  to  the  Argentine.  We,  of  course,  cannot  expect  to  outdo  in  the  near  future 
the  leading  European  countries,  because  we  are  now  competing  with  the  leading 
products  of  Argentine  in  the  markets  of  Europe.  However,  we  can  do  a  great  deal 
more,  provided  our  manufacturers  are  willing  to  adopt  different  methods  from 
those  practiced  in  our  country.  I  have  come  in  contact  with  the  Latin  American 
people  for  several  years.  I  know  they  are  accustomed  to  different  business  transac- 
tions. As  a  rule,  they  are  never  in  a  hurry  to  do  business,  as  is  the  case  with  us 
in  our  desire  to  place  propositions  in  foreign  markets.  They  are  excellent  people, 
very  polite,  good  friends  and  steady  customers.  Prior  to  placing  a  business  proposi- 
tion before  a  South  American,  in  order  to  obtain  success,  we  must  first  meet  him 
socially.  Then  it  is  indispensable  for  us  to  make  a  careful  study  of  these  countries 
before  entering  into  business  relations  with  them.  We  ought  to  place  ourselves  in 
a  position  to  compete  successfully  with  similar  European  firms  which  have  been  sup- 
plying the  Latin  American  countries  for  a  long  time.  Study  the  freight  rates,  tariffs 
and  ways  of  making  more  advantageous  offerings,  since,  under  the  same  conditions, 
no  South  American  firm  will  abandon  its  old  acquaintances  after  many  years  of 
business  dealings.  Our  manufacturers  do  not  look  down  in  this  direction.  I  know 
of  several  concerns  which  have  attempted  to  introduce  their  products  in  these  coun- 
tries, but  have  failed  because  they  did  not  take  the  right  steps.  Nevertheless,  our 
manufacturers  will  sit  in  their  office  and  dictate,  probably,  a  five-page  letter  to  their 
stenographer,  to  some  firm  in  South  America,  telling  of  the  immense  business  they 
want  to  put  before  it  and  of  the  fortune  which  they  can  make  in  a  short  time,  pro- 
vided they  are  willing  to  buy  their  goods.  Instead  of  going  down  themselves  to  look 
over  the  field,  they  will  go  to  Europe  for  a  good  time,  while  their  traveling  salesmen 
will  venture  through  Argentine  and  Brazil,  as  a  rule,  unable  to  speak  the  Spanish 
language.  Alas !  if  they  do  not  make  good,  they  are  likely  to  be  discharged  by  cable 
across  the  equator. 

In  particular,  Argentine  affords  a  great  market  for  American  products,  pro- 
vided the  business  is  properly  handled.  In  Argentine  the  success  of  business  depends 
upon  the  linseed,  corn  and  wheat  crops,  which  are  the  principal  resources  of  the 
country;  also  on  live-stock,  which  is  another  important  branch.  Yet  difficulties  are 
experienced  for  the  reason  that  in  some  parts  of  Argentine  it  seldom  rains  sufficiently 
at  the  proper  time  to  irrigate  the  crops.  Outside  of  this  disadvantage,  Argentine  can 
be  considered  as  the  most  promising  market  for  business  in  the  world. 

We  also  know  that  the  American  capital  invested  in  South  America  is  insig- 
nificant, and  that  the  principal  foreign  capital  is  English.  Naturally,  this  is  another 
disadvantage  to  our  industries.  Germany  and  France  are  following  the  custom  of 
England,  and  they  are  also  introducing  large  amounts  of  capital,  which  helps  them 

156 


to  support  their  industries  and  to  tighten  commercial  intercourse.  In  the  event  that 
the  United  States  wish  to  enlarge  commercial  intercourse  and  to  occupy  a  more 
advantageous  position  in  the  markets  of  South  America,  it  means  that  we  need  to 
invest  our  capital  the  same  as  England  invested  hers  several  years  before  succeeding 
commercially  in  those  countries. 

From  what  I  have  seen  and  heard  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the  Latin 
American  people  do  not  sympathize  with  us  on  account  of  our  selfishness,  and  regard 
as  true  "we  Americans  are  certainly  great  people  as  self-lovers  and  the  only  consid- 
ered race  on  the  American  continent."  How  many  times  many  of  us  have  heard  the 
sarcastic  expression,  "Oh,  well,  I'm  an  American,"  etc.,  and  when  we  say  so  we  think 
we  are  masters  of  the  world  and  that  nobody  can  dispute  our  supremacy.  Now,  this 
is  a  strong  factor  which  keeps  the  Latin  American  people  from  transacting  business 
with  us.  Some  American  people  had  a  vague  impression  of  Latin  America.  I  was 
in  Cuba  right  after  the  Spanish-American  War.  I  remember  when  American  inter- 
ests there  were  not  nearly  as  large  as  they  are  today.  Right  after  the  American 
occupation  our  people  took  more  interest  in  Cuban  affairs,  and  before  long  several 
important  American  companies  were  founded  in  Cuba.  Speaking  in  general,  we  had 
our  doubts  as  to  the  progress  being  made  by  the  Cubans  under  the  Spanish  regime, 
and  I  recall  a  party  of  American  settlers  who  were  coming  to  Cuba  in  the  belief  that 
they  were  to  find  a  tribelike  people,  but  instead  they  found,  much  to  their  surprise, 
just  as  much  social  progress  and  civilization  as  in  our  own  country,  and  this  errone- 
ous belief  was  entertained  in  regard  to  a  people  living  in  close  proximity  to  our 
own  country. 

The  American  industries  are  increasing  beyond  belief,  and  within  a  short  time 
we  will  be  obliged  to  consider  more  carefully  the  South  American  trade.  Today  we 
are  not  very  anxious  because  we  can  put  up  a  good  argument:  As  long  as  we  can 
make  a  fortune  in  the  United  States,  what  is  the  use  of  wasting  our  time  in  foreign 
countries? 

As  a  conclusion  to  this  article,  which  I  devote  to  our  manufacturers,  I  wish 
to  state  that  the  time  will  come  when  we  will  be  obliged  to  forget  our  melody, 
"Home,  Sweet  Home,"  and  open  our  doors  to  the  Latin  American  people,  who  are 
admiring  our  progress  with  indifference  on  account  of  our  negligence. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :    Will  someone  please  ask  some  direct  questions  ? 

MR.  HUMPHREY:  When  you  ship  bottles  and  extracts  to  South  America,  do 
they  have  to  be  packed  in  tin  or  wood  boxes  ? 

MR.  TRAZIVUK:    Do  you  mean  empty  bottles? 

MR.  HUMPHREY:   Anything  full,  holding  about  four  or  eight  ounces. 

MR.  TRAZIVUK  :  In  wooden  boxes,  that  is  safe.  Gentlemen,  I  will  tell  you  the 
best  packers  in  the  United  States,  to  my  personal  knowledge,  are  the  typewriter 
manufacturers  and  certain  companies  who  produce  electrical  material ;  but  glassware, 
dry  goods  and  shoe  merchants,  speaking  generally,  are  very  poor  packers;  that  is, 
from  what  I  have  seen  on  board  ship. 

MR.  WICKWIRE  :  I  would  like  to  know  if  it  is  all  right  to  pack  porcelain  in 
barrels.  I  do  not  mean  the  most  fragile  porcelain,  but  insulators.  . 

MR.  TRAZIVUK:  Yes,  barrels  are  all  right.  That  is  the  best  way.  I  have 
noticed  on  board  ship  glassware  or  empty  bottles  packed  in  cases,  and  I  suggested 
they  should  be  packed  in  barrels  or  hogsheads. 

MR.  GORHAM  :  On  the  west  coast  of  South  America,  particularly,  one  en- 
counters a  very  serious  difficulty.  The  average  way  goods  are  marked  destined  for 
the  west  coast  is  to  write  or  stencil  in  small  letters  the  full  address  of  the  New  York 
merchant,  his  name,  his  street  in  New  York  city,  and,  last  of  all,  the  railroads  which 
the  goods  will  pass  over  on  their  journey;  and  then  one  will  write  under  that  in 
color,  "Glass — this  side  up,"  and  then  in  letters  of  the  same  size  the  name  of  the 
point  of  destination,  then  net  and  gross  weight,  and  the  general  aspect  of  such  a 
package  so  marked  is  a  conglomeration  of  writing.  One  should  write  the  point  of 
destination  as  large  as  possible.  The  people  who  mark  cases  should  go  into  the  hold 
of  a  steamship  and  look  across  that  hold  in  its  darkness  and  try  to  distinguish  the 
name  of  such  a  port  as  "Antofagasta"  with  the  lettering  as  small  as  it  usually  is. 
The  great  complaint  of  the  Chilean  and  Peruvian  merchants  is  that  the  marking  is 
so  indistinct  that  the  steamship  companies  will  miss  the  point  of  destination  and  go 
trailing  a  thousand  miles  up  the  coast.  I,  myself,  have  had  great  difficulty,  and  have 
missed  orders  through  those  things.  Almost  all  American  goods  bear  a  conglomera- 
tion of  marking  which  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  necessary  shipping  directions.  I, 
myself,  have  taken  great  care  to  see  that  the  cases  shipped  from  my  factory  are 

157 


marked  in  such  a  way  that  there  can  be  no  possible  mistake;  that  the  name  and  ad- 
dress "New  York,"  is  put  upon  a  pasteboard  in  one  corner  of  the  case,  and  we  do 
not  care  if  it  does  come  off.  We  print  the  words  "Valparaiso"  and  "Antofagasta," 
and  the  net  weight  should  be  in  kilos. 

MR.  TRAZIVUK:  I  am  of  the  Ward  Line,  which  only  runs  from  New  York 
to  Havana  and  Mexico  and  return. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :    How  do  you  find  the  marking  of  the  packages  ? 

MR.  TRAZIVUK  :   Very  badly  done. 

QUESTION:  The  point  has  not  been  brought  out  of  a  provision  against  pos- 
sible" damage  by  sea  water  getting  into  the  hold.  We  have  had  some  trouble  with  ex- 
plosives shipments  in  that  respect.  The  case  is  supposed  to  be  waterproof  under 
ordinary  conditions,  but  suffers  from  continued  immersion  in  water.  The  hold  got 
so  wet  that  the  goods  were  flooded. 

MR.  TRAZIVUK:  Do  you  insure  your  freight?  If  so,  any  damage  done  on  the 
part  of  the  shipowners  the  insurance  people  will  pay  for  it. 

QUESTION  :  It  is  not  a  question  of  who  is  responsible,  but  of  having  the  goods 
get  through  in  as  good  condition  as  possible. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Of  course,  the  water  might  get  in  through  some 
pretty  severe  storm. 

QUESTION  :  As  I  understand  it,  on  the  west  coast  of  South  America,  where 
shipments  have  to  be  lightered,  there  is  always  danger  of  that. 

MR.  TRAZIVUK  :  In  Havana  they  discharge  by  lighters  and  sometimes  on  docks. 
In  Mexico  it  is  always  in  lighters. 

MR.  HYDE  :  I  would  like  to  know  whether  it  is  necessary  to  put  a  preparation 
on  the  inside  of  barrels  and  cases  in  order  to  prevent  the  packages  from  absorbing 
moisture  and  therefore  increasing  in  weight  when  shipping  valuable  goods  on  which 
there  is  a  high  tariff. 

MR.  TRAZIVUK:   You  mean  to  put  that  inside  of  a  box? 

MR.  HYDE:    Something  to  make  it  moisture-proof  and  prevent  absorption. 

MR.  TRAZIVUK:  That  is  very  important  to  you,  provided  the  cargo  is  a  valu- 
able one. 

MR.  ENRIGHT:  Do  you  think,  in  your  opinion,  it  would  be  better  in  shipping 
dry  goods  or  any  other  material  affected  by  moisture  shipped  to  the  tropics,  and  on 
the  west  coast  where  these  conditions  of  lighterage  exist,  to  pack  the  goods  in  zinc- 
lined  cases,  properly  soldered? 

I  have  seen  goods  come  to  Buenos  Aires  where  nearly  every  case  coming  from 
Europe  was  zinc-lined. 

MR.  TRAZIVUK  :  Some  German  manufacturers  use  that.  I  saw  some  on  board 
the  German  steamers  in  Mexico  which  come  from  Europe. 

MR.  ENRIGHT  :  Nearly  every  shipment  to  Buenos  Aires  comes  in  those  soldered 
cases. 

QUESTION  :  Would  it  be  better  to  use  for  barrel  packing,  straw,  instead  of 
hay  or  excelsior?  I  know  of  a  shipment  that  went  down  to  the  west  coast,  and  it 
got  wet,  whether  it  was  from  water  that  got  into  the  ship  or  whether  it  was  rained  on 
afterwards,  I  do  not  know,  but  excelsior  shrinks  a  great  deal,  and  I  found  in  this 
particular  shipment  that  at  least  six  inches  from  the  top  of  the  barrel  was  vacant, 
and  afterwards  handling  or  shaking  of  that  barrel  resulted  in  the  glass  pieces  strik- 
ing each  other,  and  we  found  about  50  per  cent,  of  the  material  was  broken.  Could 
you  suggest  any  improvement  over  excelsior  for  packing  fragile  stuff  like  glass? 

MR.  TRAZIVUK:   For  a  line  of  glassware? 

MR.  ENRIGHT:    Anything  fragile  like  that. 

MR.  TRAZIVUK  :  For  instance,  in  packing  glass  it  is  very  important  always  to 
use  hay  inside  among  the  bottles,  or  whatever  it  may  be.  I  think  hay  is  better.  Hay, 
to  start  with,  is  lighter  than  glass. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  want  to  say  that  Mr.  Trazivuk  would  be  very 
glad  to  meet  anyone  who  may  desire  to  ask  further  questions.  We  have  got  a  lot  ot 
information  here  in  a  few  minutes.  Mr.  Trazivuk,  we  thank  you  very  much.  Your 
remarks  have  been  very  helpful. 

Gentlemen,  I  am  going  to  have  a  little  very  rapid  discussion.  I  am  going  to  al- 
low each  man  four  minutes  in  order  that  we  can  call  on  quite  a  number  of  different 
men,  because  otherwise  we  cannot  possibly  get  along.  First,  there  is  Mr.  Enright, 
whom  I  would  like  to  give  four  minutes,  and  he  would  fill  every  minute.  He  is  one 
of  the  best  posted  men,  and  he  is  going  down  to  Buenos  Aires  very  soon.  I  want  Mr. 
Enright  to  come  up  and  make  any  pertinent  suggestion  that  he  wants  to.  After  him 
I  am  going  to  call  on  Mr.  Burns. 

158 


MR.  ENRIGHT:  I  want  to  tell  you  what  Chicago  is  going  to  do,  and  I  hope 
that  what  I  am  going  to  say  to  you  will  so  inspire  you  all  that  the  other  cities  of  the 
United  States  will  follow  her  example.  The  Chicago  Association  of  Commerce, 
through  their  Foreign  Trade  Division,  has  decided  to  open  a  bureau  in  South 
America  of  information  for  the  manufacturers  and  merchants  who  compose  the 
membership  of  the  Chicago  Association  of  Commerce.  This  bureau  will  have  its 
head  office  in  the  city  of  Buenos  Aires,  but  our  efforts  will  not  be  confined  to  the 
Argentine  Republic  alone,  but  will  embrace  eventually  the  whole  of  South  America. 
Of  course,  this  is  too  great  to  cover  all  at  once,  so  we  are  going  to  confine  our  atten- 
tion initially  to  the  Argentine  Republic,  Chile,  Uruguay  and  Paraguay.  As  soon  as 
we  get  the  thing  further  developed  we  will  go  further. 

This  bureau  will  simply  supply  information  to  manufacturers  and  merchants 
who  are  members  of  the  association  as  to  what  the  opportunities  are  to  place  in  these 
various  countries  the  articles  that  they  manufacture  and  sell,  and  also  to  obtain 
information  as  to  what  articles  they  can  purchase  with  advantage  from  the  Argentine 
Republic,  because  you  must  bear  this  distinctly  in  mind,  that  you  can  never  build  up 
any  great  trade  with  any  country  except  on  a  reciprocal  basis.  You  have  got  to  buy 
things  from  them  if  you  want  to  sell  them  things.  Otherwise  they  are  naturally 
going  to  give  the  advantage  to  the  people  who  are  bringing  the  money  into  the 
country. 

Again,  also,  the  bureau  is  going  to  pay  particular  attention  to  the  question  of 
establishing  more  direct  financial  connections  with  those  countries  and  also  better 
transportation,  and,  in  addition,  I  wilt  be  able  to  obtain  for  those  members  who 
desire  a  line  of  credit  of  parties  that  we  wish  to  deal  with.  This  is  a  work  which 
I  would  be  very  glad  to  see  every  other  association  of  commerce  in  the  United 
States  going  into.  I  would  welcome  the  competition,  and  I  would  be  very  glad  to 
co-operate  with  them.  Of  course,  while  this  work  will  be  confined  to  the  benefit  of 
the  members  of  the  Association  of  Commerce  in  Chicago,  there  is  a  movement  on 
foot,  or,  rather,  under  consideration,  to  have  a  kind  of  associate  membership  in  the 
Foreign  Trade  Division.  As  yet  I  am  not  able  to  speak  authoritatively  on  that,  as 
the  thing  is  still  in  a  preliminary  condition,  and  we  are  just  thinking  it  over  at 
present;  but  anyone  who  has  a  Chicago  office  can  join  the  Chicago  Association  of 
Commerce  and  obtain  the  benefit.  I  do  not  want  to  advertise  the  Chicago  Associa- 
tion of  Commerce,  but  simply  to  tell  you  of  this  step  of  the  only  association  of 
commerce  in  the  world,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  that  opened  an  office  in  any  of  the 
South  American  countries  to  acquire  information,  and  from  the  expressions  of 
opinion  I  have  heard,  not  only  here,  but  through  letters  from  various  parts  of  the 
country  since  it  was  published  that  \ye  were  going  to  do  this,  everybody  approves 
of  it,  and  I  only  hope  to  see  the  initiative  taken  by  us  followed  by  everybody  else. 
Thank  you. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  That  is  very  good.  I  want  to  say  we  are  greatly 
honored  in  having  here  as  a  guest  this  afternoon  for  a  few  minutes  Doctor  Ernest 
Fox  Nichols,  of  Dartmouth  College,  who  has  come  down  here  to  attend  the  alumni 
dinner  of  his  college.  I  will  now  call  upon  Mr.  Forbes  Lindsay. 

MR.  FORBES  LINDSAY:  Only  one  minute.  I  want  to  suggest  that  on  the  first 
of  January,  1915,  at  the  time  the  Canal  will  be  opened,  an  exposition  will  be  also 
opened  in  the  vicinity  of  the  city  of  Panama.  It  will  be  a  permanent  institution,  a 
sort  of  continuous  trade  exhibit,  and  an  excellent  opportunity  for  every  one  of  you 
who  is  after  Latin  American  trade  to  get  your  goods  on  exhibition.  It  is  well  worth 
while  to  make  inquiry  as  to  the  preparation  of  the  facilities  and  all  that  sort  of  thing. 
Mr.  Carlos  Duque,  who  is  here,  of  24  Broadway,  New  York,  can  give  you  the  fullest 
information  about  that. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  would  like  to  ask  if  there  is  anyone  here 
in  this  audience  who  would  like  to  speak  three  or  four  minutes  on  some  particular 
subject.  Someone  should  be  called  upon,  but  we  have  not  had  the  time  to  arrange 
for  that. 

(Mr.  Frank  Wiborg  was  called  for.) 

FROM  THE  FLOOR  :  Mr.  Wiborg  is  not  here,  but  he  wants  me  to  express  his  re- 
grets for  his  inability  to  be  here  at  his  regular  time  on  the  program,  and  I  would  call 
attention  to  his  little  book,  "A  Commercial  Traveler  in  South  America,"  that  is 
published  by  McClure,  Phillips  &  Company,  of  New  York.  Mr.  Wiborg  is  of  the 
firm  of  Ault  &  Wiborg.  In  the  closing  of  this  little  book  there  are  some  observa- 
tions on  our  trade  with  South  America,  which  are  very  practical  in  character,  and 
he  said  he  would  like  to  have  that  considered  as  an  addition  to  the  meeting,  if  he 
could  not  be  here. 

159 


HONDURAS 


-  FISCAL  YEAR-  1903-03- 


UNITED  5TKTES 
1,834,565 


•tffcoBt. 


DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  have  a  number  of  copies  in  our  library,  and 
there  is  large  demand  for  it,  and  it  has  given  us  some  very  practical  suggestions  of 
the  kind  that  the  average  business  man  wants.  When  Mr.  Wiborg  was  in  South 
America  I  was  your  minister  in  Buenos  Aires,  ancj  he  came  down  the  west  coast 
and  went  back  on  the  east.  When  he  arrived  at  Buenos  Aires  he  did  not  know 
whether  he  could  do  any  business  there  or  not.  I  took  a  great  deal  of  interest  in 
having  him,  because  of  his  financial  standing  and  bearing  as  a  gentleman  and  as  an 
American,  succeed,  and  I  introduced  him  to  the  President;  and  he  has  established 
a  large  business,  and  most  of  the  ink  used  by  the  leading  newspapers  in  Buenos 
Aires  is  supplied  by  his  concern,  showing  what  can  be  done  by  an  American  in  the 
right  way. 

MR.  KELEHER  :  These  little  notes  I  made  yesterday  when  some  papers  were 
being  discussed  about  Uruguay.  When  I  was  down  in  Uruguay  the  people  were 
perfectly  surprised  to  find  an  American  salesman  there.  It  seemed  that  the  most 
of  the  salesmen  skipped  Uruguay  on  account  of  its  apparent  small  size  on  the  map, 
but  if  you  look  at  the  figures  on  the  chart,  you  will  find  that  Uruguay  has  a  very 
good  purchasing  power,  and  the  people  like  American  material,  especially  in  the 
line  of  electrical  devices  and  machinery — anything  mechanical.  We  have  a  good 
reputation  all  through  South  America,  and  it  is  a  hard  market  to  get. 

One  man  came  down  there  with  a  hundred  bicycles.  He  was  there  two 
weeks,  and  at  the  end  of  the  two  weeks  there  were  a  hundred  people  riding  around 
the  city  on  bicycles  and  having  a  fine  time.  One  week  after  the  man  left,  all  the 
machines  had  busted,  and  they  judged  us  all  by  that.  So  when  I  came  down  there 
I  found  it  hard.  No  matter  what  a  business  man's  nationality  is,  he  knows  a  good 
proposition  when  he  sees  it.  They  buy  in  small  quantities,  and  it  would  not  seem 
that  it  pays,  but  it  does,  as  they  get  samples  and  they  try  them,  and  the  second  year 
we  got  great  business  and  now  have  still  more. 

Another  point,  someone  said  that  it  will  not  pay  to  introduce  an  article  unless 
it  is  a  very  large  article  and  one  that  will  sell  for  a  lot  of  money.  I  find  a  lot  of 
small  lines  will  sell.  I  know  I  had  one  or  two  lines  which  were  carried  as  side 
lines.  Those  side  lines  are  making  big  money  today.  They  were  sold  in  small  quan- 
tities at  first,  but  those  small  quantities  were  tried  out,  and  the  quantities  are  very 
large  now,  and  form  a  very  large  part  of  the  business  I  was  speaking  of. 

REMARKS  OF  MR.  CHARLES  LYON  CHANDLER,  U.  S.  VICE 
CONSUL  GENERAL  AT   BUENOS  AIRES,  ARGENTINA 

Mr.  CHANDLER,  said : 

I  will  say  a  few  words  regarding  the  Argentine  market.  Argentina  is  our 
best  South  American  customer.  Every  man,  woman  and  child  in  the  Argentine 
Republic  is  now  buying  $6  a  year  from  the  United  States.  This  is  about  twice  of 
what  the  Brazilian  and  Chilean,  our  next  best  customers,  buy.  We  hear  a  great 
deal  of  the  wonderful  markets  in  China  and  Japan,  and  of  the  "Open  Door."  Well, 
our  exports  to  Japan  have  increased  by  only  about  $100,000  during  the  past  ten 
years ;  our  exports  to  China  have  decreased  enormously ;  they  decreased  by  nearly 
two-thirds  from  1905  to  1909,  while  our  exports  to  the  Argentine  Republic  have 
increased  by  nearly  $32,000,000  during  the  last  ten  years. 

We  should  not  rest  content  with  this.  There  are  hundreds  and  hundreds  of 
articles  which  we  are  either  not  selling  to  Argentina  at  all,  or  whose  present  sale 
there  could  be  greatly  extended.  WThile  our  exports  to  all  the  principal  countries 
of  Europe,  except  Italy;  to  all  the  leading  North  and  South  American  countries, 
and  to  nearly  all  Asiatic  countries,  to  nearly  all  our  best  customers,  showed  a  reduc- 
tion for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  1909,  as  compared  with  the  year  previous, 
our  exports  to  the  Argentine  Republic  increased  about  6  per  cent,  in  that  year. 

The  increase  was  greatest  in  the  follow  ing  articles : 

Locomotives  ($640,160). 

Agricultural  implements  ($629,966). 

Shocks  ($361,152). 

Lumber  ($278,899). 

All  other  steam  engines  and  parts  thereof  ($318,614). 

Steel  rails  for  railways  ($230,723). 

161 


Since  then  the  figures  are  greater  and  greater.  And  that  eager  judicious 
exponent  of  our  foreign  commerce,  Mr.  Charles  Hitchcock  Sherrill,  our  Min- 
ister to  Argentina,  has  secured  the  contracts  not  merely  for  the  building  of  two 
battleships  in  the  United  States,  but  also  for  over  $1,000,000  worth  of  railway  cars 
and  rolling  stock  of  the  Argentine  Government  railways.  As  yet  we  have  dome 
nothing  whatever  toward  getting  any  of  the  road-making  machinery  business  in 
Argentina,  except  for  a  small  order  for  the  city  of  Buenos  Aires.  There  are  great 
opportunities  in  this  line,  of  which  you  can  obtain  full  information  by  writing  to  the 
Bureau  of  Manufactures,  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  at  Washington, 
where  complete  trade  lists  of  the  Argentine  Republic  are  also  on  file. 

These  figures  I  have  mentioned  show  what  we  can  do  in  that  vast  temperate 
country  of  settlement,  and  it  is  for  you  gentlemen  before  me  to  see  that  we  do  get  it. 

We  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  the  eastern  markets.  Just  one  thing  more  I 
want  to  say  to  emphasize  what  Mr.  Barrett  has  written ;  when  you  consider  that 
every  man,  woman  and  child  buys  six  cents  apiece  from  us  in  China,  and  from  the 
Argentine  Republic  buys  six  dollars  apiece,  you  can  see  the  difference.  Every  man, 
woman  and  child  in  Japan  buys  exactly  seventy-eight  cents  from  us.  A  great  deal 
has  been  said  in  this  conference  about  extending  the  trade.  That  means  two  things. 
It  means  not  merely  extending  the  trade  in  things  that  we  are  buying,  but  in  entering 
the  new  markets  and  in  getting  business  away,  and  then  as  business  has  been  so 
built  up  in  reaching  into  the  new  fields.  This  southern  part  of  the  Argentine  Re- 
public has  not  been  touched  at  all.  It  is  an  immense  area  with  472,000  people, 
containing  oil  .and  mineral  lands  of  incalculable  value.  Recent  statistics  as  to  the 
oil  and  minerals  by  the  Argentine  Government  show  that  these  products  of  Pata- 
gonia and  elsewhere  are  of  splendid  quality,  and  only  waiting  for  the  American 
business  man  to  come  down  and  develop  them.  All  those  countries  offer  marvelous 
opportunities. 

Buenos  Aires  has  now  over  one  thousand  American  elevators,  more  than  any 
other  South  American  city.  There  are  two  thousand  apartment-houses,  four  thousand 
automobiles,  and  the  other  features  of  that  city  have  been  already  detailed.  We  shall 
merely  turn  to  one  or  two  specific  figures,  from  which  we  will  see  that  it  is  in  only  a 
few  of  the  greater  articles  of  merchandise  in  which  we  are  leading  in  Argentina,  while 
many  of  the  smaller  lines  could  be  worked  with  profit. 

We  must  not  rest  content  with  our  agricultural  trade,  while  that  amounts 
to  $7,000,000,  because  September  isth  last  a  very  large  German  house  came  into 
Buenos  Aires  and  went  into  business.  Look  out  for  them,  and  also  the  English  and 
French,  who  are  doing  everything  in  their  power  to  control  those  markets.  No 
American  firm  has  done  what  English  firms  have  done.  They  have  complete  Spanish 
catalogues,  and  they  will  show  you,  if  you  want  to  get  that  business,  what  the  Argen- 
tine Republic  is  spending  $10,000,000  on.  On  illuminating  oil  we  are  holding  good.  On 
shocks  we  are  holding  good.  Twine  is  another  thing  we  are  leading  in,  and  we  will 
get  a  great  deal  more.  We  have  made  a  great  start  during  the  last  few  years  on 
passenger  cars  and  locomotives.  I  know  a  young  man  who  went  down  there  in  the 
Republic  and  kept  at  it  until  he  got  it,  and  that  is  what  we  will  do  with  the  business 
of  Argentina,  gentlemen. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  will  now  introduce  Mr.  Dudley  Bartlett,  of  the 
Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum,  who  will  address  us  for  four  minutes. 

MR.  BARTLETT  :  You  may  not  know  it,  but  while  I  have  been  sitting  in  the  back 
seats,  in  the  seats  of  the  lowly,  I  am  really  entitled  to  a  seat  in  the  front  row,  with 
the  diplomats  on  my  right  and  diplomats  on  my  left,  as  I  happen  to  be  the  consular 
representative  in  Philadelphia  for  Chile;  and  it  is  a  great  pleasure  for  me  to  learn 
through  the  statistics  that  we  have  bought  in  Chile  during  the  last  year  an  excess 
over  our  purchases  in  Chile  ten  years  ago  of  174  per  cent.,  while  our  total  increase 
with  South  America  of  purchases  was  133  per  cent. 

I  have  thought  sometimes  during  this  meeting  that  we  have  not  given  all  due 
credit  to  the  diplomats  and  representatives  of  foreign  countries  who  have  been  here 
and  have  lent  their  aid  and  their  assistance  and  their  advice  to  our  efforts  to  give 
their  trade,  and  I  hope  before  this  meeting  ends  that  something  will  be  done— some 
expression  made  of  the  gratitude  that  we  must  feel  towards  these  men  because  they 
have  unselfishly  come  here  to  aid  us  to  get  into  their  pockets  and  sell  our  good's 
there  while  naturally  their  primary  interest  is  to  see  what  they  can  do  in  the  way 
of  selling  their  goods  here. 

1  W£mt  to  say  just  one  word,  especially,  about  our  foreign  correspondence. 
We  have  been  told  it  is  necessary  to  write  to  the  Spanish-American  houses  in 

162 


Spanish,  which  is  right.  Most  manufacturers  must  have  the  aid  of  a  translator. 
That  translator's  work  is  hard,  but  it  is  made  doubly  hard  by  the  careless  and  often 
slovenly  writing  of  many  of  you  men.  I  want  to  give  you  an  idea  of  what  a  translator 
may  have  to  meet  in  the  way  of  translating  letters  intended  for  a  South  American 
merchant.  For  instance,  suppose  you  get  this  sort  of  a  letter  to  be  translated : 

"We  want  to  put  you  wise  to  a  good  thing.  Our  new  double  action,  adjustable 
cuspidor  and  jardiniere — the  greatest  invention  of  modern  times — is  a  corking  seller, 
and  just  the  cheese  as  the  leader  for  a  special  sales-day  in  any  up-to-the-minute 
store. 

"It  is  just  as  classy  in  a  lady's  boudoir  as  in  the  bar  room.  For  amateur 
tobacco  eaters  we  provide  an  adjustable  expansion  lip,  which  no  man  could  miss  at 
20  feet.  Read  the  gilt-edged  letter  of  recommendation  by  the  Mayor  of  Pike  City, 
Arizona. 

"Send  for  our  price-list  now,  and  place  your  orders  ahead  of  the  push  if  you 
want  to  get  on  the  band  wagon." 

Imagine  giving  that  to  a  translator  to  put  into  the  language  of  Cervantes. 
In  the  first  place,  be  clear  in  every  letter;  be  clear  and  exact  in  every  statement; 
do  not  use  long  and  involved  sentences ;  avoid  exaggeration ;  avoid  slang  as  the  devil 
avoids  holy  water.  Do  not  use  any  more  technical  terms  than  you  can  possibly  help 
using,  for  this  reason :  the  Spanish  language  is  not  rich  in  technical  terms,  and  I 
have  had  occasion  to  handle  many  letters  from  manufacturers  which  have  fairly 
reeked  with  technical  terms,  many  of  which  have  been  coined  in  their  own  machine 
shops.  The  Spanish  language  has  not  even  a  term  of  its  own  for  that  most  im- 
portant adjunct  of  civilization,  the  cocktail,  and  you  can  imagine  how  hard  it  is  for 
a  translator  to  find  some  terms  which  are  entirely  local,  and  which  with  a  little  care 
may  be  readily  avoided.  I  feel  this  is  an  important  matter,  and  one  which  we  have 
met  in  our  Translations  Bureau  of  the  Commercial  Museum  many  times,  to  the 
satisfaction  on  the  part  of  the  man  who  receives  the  letter. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  shall  have  to  have  further  remarks  deferred 
on  this  subject.  We  have  accomplished  a  good  deal  in  a  very  short  time,  and  we 
will  take  this  up  later.  I  hope  we  can  call  upon  Mr.  Bartlett  for  further  discussion 
upon  that  point  tomorrow. 

We  will  proceed  now  with  our  program  in  hearing  from  the  man  who  is  at 
the  head  of  the  institution  of  which  Mr.  Bartlett  is  the  Chief  of,  the  Foreign  Trade 
Bureau.  It  is  therefore  most  fitting  that  he  should  have  preceded  the  remarks  from 
Doctor  W.  P.  Wilson,  who  is  known  all  over  this  country  as  an  expert  on  both 
export  and  import  trade ;  and  at  the  conclusion  of  his  ten  or  twelve  minutes  I  hope 
you  will  ask  a  few  questions,  because  he  is  in  the  habit  of  answering  questions. 

ADDRESS  OF  DOCTOR  W.  P.  WILSON,  DIRECTOR  OF  THE 
PHILADELPHIA  COMMERCIAL  MUSEUM 

Doctor  WILSON  said : 

I  have  listened  in  a  very  quiet  way  to  three  or  four  days  of  discussion  here 
and  have  been  intensely  interested.  I  had  declined  to  present  a  paper  on  a  special 
line  of  thought,  but  as  so  many  queries  and  difficulties  have  arisen  in  one  way  and 
another,  I  have  concluded,  on  the  ground  that  not  one  person  in  thirty  or  forty  here 
has  ever  heard  of  the  institution  which  I  have  had  the  pleasure  to  work  in  and  to 
aid  in  organizing,  to  give  you  a  little  description  of  that  institution,  because  it  is 
one  where  you  can  come  some  time  to  solace  your  sorrows. 

In  the  first  place,  however,  I  think  just  a  word  about  what  seems  to  be  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  conditions  that  anyone  can  ever  comprehend  or  think 
about — this  magnificent  thought  of  the  Pan  American  Union  in  its  magnitude,  the 
thought  of  bringing  together  in  harmony  all  the  different  republics  which  have 
come  into  existence,  so  to  speak,  by  the  very  sweat  of  their  brows,  as  we  did, 
and  we  preceded  them,  each  one  laboring  along  under  the  guidance  and  control  of 
some  European  monarchy,  until  they  have  finally  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  that  op- 
pression and  have  become  republics,  and  now  the  feat  of  bringing  them  all  together 
into  one  great  nation  and  for  one  great  purpose,  that  of  peace  and  harmony  and 
strength  together  in  the  western  hemisphere.  I  grant  you  that  no  such  conception 
has  ever  entered  the  minds  of  other  governments  than  that  which  has  been  brought 

163 


into  the  thought  of  these  South  American  Republics — Pan  American  Republics, 
\vith  the  United  States.  And  I  want  to  make  just  one  suggestion.  I  have  been 
interested  in  foreign  commerce,  especially,  for  the  last  fifteen  or  eighteen  years,  and 
I  have  seen  the  gradual  progress  of  this  particular  movement.  It  has  grown  up 
from  a  young  and  vigorous  thought  into  its  present  enormous  proportions,  that  you 
can  hardly  think  about  and  I  could  not  help  but  state — I  have  seen  the  progress  of 
the  work  of  Mr.  Barrett  during  the  time  from  his  diplomatic  work  in  Siam  to  his 
diplomatic  work  for  commerce  in  the  United  States,  and  in  those  foreign  South 
American  countries,  and  I  want  to  say  to  you  that  nobody  but  a  diplomat,  nobody 
but  a  thorough  scholar  and  a  gentleman  and  a  thorough  worker  could  have  ever 
thought  out  and  brought  to  fruition  this  magnificent  conception  but  Mr.  Barrett. 
I  know  my  time  is  getting  on  rapidly  and  I  want  to  state  that  fifteen  years  ago, 
through  the  aid  of  a  few  people,  an  institution  was  brought  into  being  in  Philadel- 
phia which,  from  the  very  start,  was  a  missionary  institution  for  foreign  trade. 
The  city  of  Philadelphia  made  liberal  appropriations  to  it,  the  State  of  Penn- 
sylvania made  liberal  appropriations  to  it,  and  in  one  of  its  first  efforts, 
the  United  States  Government,  thinking  that  it  should  be  fostered,  made  also  an 
appropriation  of  more  than  $300,000  to  it,  and  one  of  the  first  events  that  took  place — 
and  I  am  glad  to  mention  it  here — in  that  institution — it  was  named  the  Philadelphia 
Museum — I  am  sorry  that  the  word  "museum"  at  the  present  moment  is  attached  to 
the  word  "commercial,"  because  most  people  have  attached  to  the  word  museum 
a  lot  of  antiquated,  dried  mummies,  pathological  or  ornithological  material,  and  we 
have  not  got  that  in  this  institution.  I  want  to  state  that  one  of  the  first  acts 
which  that  institution  did  and  which  caused  its  inauguration  by  the  late  President 
McKinley,  who  came  with  his  Cabinet  and  Latin  American  ministers  at  that  time, 
was  a  foreign  commercial  congress,  and  that  foreign  commercial  congress  was  the 
first  one  ever  held  in  the  United  States.  We  invited  only  the  Latin  American 
representatives,  and  we  had  every  Latin  American  State  or  Republic  represented  at 
that  Congress. 

As_  I  say,  the  city  of  Philadelphia  was  liberal  in  this  missionary  movement, 
and  provided  expenses  for  a  congress  lasting  ten  days,  after  which  a  fine  Pullman 
train  was  made  up  and  these  delegates — and  some  of  you  gentlemen  may  remember 
that  excursion — was  taken  for  six  weeks  to  every  leading,  important  city  in  the 
United  States,  and  those  cities  spent  more  than  $300,000  in  entertaining  these  dele- 
gates and  showing  them  from  first  to  last  the  manufactures  of  their  special  cities. 
Those  delegates  went  home  pleased  in  various  ways.  They  purchased  more  than 
ninety  tons  of  samples  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  and  I  remember  especially 
one  delegate,  who  placed  an  order  for  $1,500,000  of  structural  iron  in  Pittsburg  at 
that  time,  who  was  brought  up  from  Mexico.  They  were  building  bridges,  and  they 
found  it  was  convenient  to  get  their  iron  here. 

That  was  one  of  the  first  efforts,  and  our  late  President  McKinley  thought 
it  was  important  enough  to  come  to  Philadelphia  and  make  one  of  his  most  stirring 
and  magnificent  speeches,  and  inaugurate  and  open  the  institution.  That  was  such 
a  success  that  we  began  immediately  to  foster  and  prepare  for  another  commercial 
congress,  that  was  held  in  1899  and  1900  in  Philadelphia,  by  inviting  through  the 
State  Department  every  country  to  be  represented,  and  twenty-four  of  them  were 
represented  _by  formal  delegates,  and  by  inviting  all  the  leading  shapers  of  commerce 
of  the  foreign  countries  to  take  part  in  this  convention.  And  it  was  a  success, 
because  we  had  three  hundred  foreign  delegates  at  that  time,  and  because  the  city  of 
Philadelphia  was  liberal  and  provided  $50,000  to  entertain  those  delegates  during 
e  eighteen  days  that  they  were  in  session  there,  discussing  various  topics  of 
international  interest  in  commerce  and  education,  for  we  took  up  commercial  educa- 
ton,  and  when  we  took  that  subject  up,  just  to  show  you  the  dignity  of  the  situation, 
e  president  of  Columbia  University  in  New  York  came  over  and  presided,  and 
the  president  of  Harvard  came  and  presented  the  first  essay  on  international  com- 
mercial education. 

When  we  had  some  international  questions  that  related  to  politics  up,  the  late 
Speaker  Keed  thought  it  was  important  enough  to  come  to  Philadelphia  and  preside 
that  day,  and  when  we  had  South  American  matters  up,  the  late  Minister  Bu- 
chanan—an abler  man  we  never  had  in  the  ministry— came  and  presided  during  the 
discussion  which  we  put  forth  on  Argentina  and  Chile  and  the  near-related  republics ; 
and  yc  u  will  remember  that  it  was  the  ministering  thought  of  the  late  Minister 
Buchanan  who  settled  the  little  difficulties  which  existed  between  the  Argentine  and 
Chile  at  a  later  day. 

164 


These  representatives  were  provided  with  railroad  passes  and  railroad  facili- 
ties to  go  to  any  part  of  the  United  States  that  they  chose  to  for  investigation. 
Some  of  those  who  were  interested  in  meat  inspection  of  Germany — and  we  had 
thirteen  from  Germany — went  to  Chicago  and  examined  the  meat  inspection.  Others 
who  were  particularly  interested  in  saying  we  were  scattering  the  San  Jose  scale 
on  our  dried  fruits  and  things  of  that  kind,  we  gave  them  letters  and  means  to  go 
to  the  West,  where  the  apples  and  the  various  things  were  packed,  and  where  the 
apples  and  fruits  were  dried  and  canned,  and  succeeded  in  showing  them  that  the 
whole  matter  of  the  carrying  of  the  San  Jose  scale  in  our  fruits  was  a  matter  of 
nonsense;  and  when  the  delegates  from  Germany  got  home  they  published  a 
pamphlet,  stating  that  our  meat  inspection  was  far  superior  to  the  inspection  of 
Germany.  It  began  to  do  away  with  that  prejudice  against  our  meats,  and  introduce 
them  into  Germany  again. 

These  delegates  went  home,  three  hundred  of  them,  from  various  places.  All 
Latin  America  was  represented,  China,  Japan,  Australia — by  the  way,  from  the 
chambers  of  commerce  and  delegates  from  Australia,  and  Australia  had  not  been 
federated  then  the  way  it  is  now,  there  were  thirty-six  from  Australia  alone.  They 
went  home,  and  they  were  from  that  time  on  the  warm  friends  and  missionaries  of 
this  institution  for  the  reason  that  in  the  very  inception  of  this  institution  we 
attempted  to  work  on  both  sides  of  the  question. 

Now,  then,  we  started  out  in  the  very  beginning  to  secure  magnificent  collec- 
tions from  all  the  countries  in  South  America  and  all  other  countries,  that  we  might 
take  up  the  other  side.  As  you  know,  there  must  be  reciprocity  if  there  is  trade. 
You  must  send  your  ships  loaded  both  ways.  So  we  secured  magnificent  collections 
from  the  Argentine,  from  Peru  and  from  various  countries,  and  we  set  them  up, 
and  ever  since  we  have  been  laboring  to  show  that  if  you  want  to  trade  with  a 
country,  you  must  find  what  there  is  in  that  country  that  you  can  take  and  that  our 
manufacturers  here  can  use.  It  is  a  principle  that  won't  last  long  if  the  trade  is 
entirely  on  one  side.  I  have  on  exhibition  now  more  than  20,000  specimens  of  wood 
from  Latin  America  and  elsewhere  in  the  world,  so  classified  that  an  architect  could 
come  in  and  at  once  find  woods  from  a  country  and  make  those  available.  We  have 
fruits  and  nuts  and  oil  nuts  and  various  things  that  can  be  used  in  this  country, 
and  you  will  be  surprised  at  the  number  of  inquiries  and  methods  that  are  in  progress 
from  people  who  want  these  things  from  foreign  countries. 

This  institution,  which  has  started  out  in  this  way,  and  ever  since  has  been  sup- 
ported by  the  State — for  the  last  10  years  we  have  never  had  an  appropriation  of  less 
than  $70,000  at  each  meeting  of  the  Legislature.  I  will  tell  you  what  we  are  doing 
with  that  in  a  moment.  We  have  never  had  an  appropriation  from  the  city  of  Phila- 
delphia for  less  than  $65,000  in  all  that  time,  and  sometimes  it  has  run  up  to  $125,000. 
There  have  been  paid  in  by  private  individuals  to  this  institution  for  special  work  of 
putting  manufacturers  in  communication  with  foreign  houses,  and  for  all  sorts  of  in- 
telligence in  every  way,  more  than  $500,000  since  its  existence.  The  city  of  Philadel- 
phia for  its  maintenance  has  contributed  from  its  beginning  $1,500,000;  the  State  over 
$300,000. 

Now,  then,  I  want  to  show  you  what  we  are  doing.  We  are  divided  into  three 
departments.  First,  a  museum.  We  come  under  that  name,  and  that  museum  includes 
exhibits  from  almost  every  country  in  Latin  America,  and  we  are  working  hard  to  get 
more.  We  take  those  exhibits  when  they  are  sent  to  us  by  the  different  Governments, 
and  without  expense  to  that  Government,  put  them  in  cases  and  exhibit  them  so  that 
they  can  be  seen.  The  information  we  get  with  them  is  filed  in  a  bureau,  so  that  if 
you  want  to  know  what  a  given  thing  will  cost,  a  marble  or  anything  else  in  Latin 
America,  we  go  to  the  bureau,  and  if  we  dp  not  have  the  information  we  get  it,  and 
we  have  all  sources  to  get  it  from.  I  call  this  a  missionary  institution.  We  are  taking 
the  side  just  as  much  of  the  Latin  American  republics  to  aid  in  their  trade  and  bring 
their  things  to  us  as  you  gentlemen  are  taking  the  side  of  trying  to  get  into  the  trade 
of  those  countries,  and  we  admit  that  reciprocity  is  the  first  consideration,  and  that 
we  must  go  to  those  countries  and  find  out  what  they  can  sell  here  and  help  them  to 
get  it  into  this  market  if  you  want  to  get  into  their  market. 

I  will  give  one  or  two  illustrations  :  The  great  nation  of  Brazil  has  sent  up  its 
special  products.  That  Government  has  sent  us  white  mahoganies,  their  rosewoods, 
and  many  other  valuable  woods  in  timber  sizes,  so  that  an  architect  or  builder  would 
know  what  he  could  depend  upon,  and  they  are  there  upon  exhibition.  That  has  been 
done  with  other  countries.  I  want  to  state  that  we  have  over  a  million  and  a  half  dol- 
lars of  exhibits.  We  did  not  get  them  all  direct.  I  went  to  Chicago  and  brought  home 

165 


25  carloads  of  materials,  mostly  from  South  America.  I  went  to  the  last  Guatemalan 
exhibition,  which  was  for  Central  America,  and  the  steamship  companies,  knowing 
that  they  would  increase  their  trade,  brought  up  to  our  door  400  tons  of  material 
without  a  penny's  charge,  because  it  was  sent  to_an  American  museum,  and  they 
knew  sooner  or  later  they  would  reap  the  reward  in  freights.  In  that  way  we  went 
to  Paris  at  the  time  of  the  last  exhibition,  and  some  of  the  countries  of  South  America 
turned  all  of  their  exhibits  over  to  us  long  before  they  took  their  exhibits  to  Paris, 
anjl  in  that  way  we  secured  ipoo  tons  of  material  which  was  brought  back  to  this 
country  to  be  exhibited  in  this  institution  for  missionary  work  for  the  Latin  American 
republics.  That  will  do  for  the  museum  side. 

We  are  attempting  in  every  possible  way  to  exhibit  each  one  of  these  countries 
without  expense  to  the  country,  so  that  you  can  step  into  it  and  you  can  see  exactly 
what  that  country  can  produce,  and  something  of  the  habits  and  customs  and  the  civil- 
ization of  the  country  ;  and  we  put  up  trade  maps  of  the  country,  so  that  you  can  step 
in  and  get  all  the  information  in  general  without  asking  for  it;  and  it  is  all  free  to 
everybody. 

We  are  conducting  something  else  outside  of  that  museum  work.  We  are  con- 
ducting a  bureau  for  commerce  —  a  bureau  for  foreign  trade.  That  bureau  in  its  tech- 
nical work  employs  37  people,  and  that  bureau  is  entirely  paid  out  of  the  money  which 
conies  in  for  special  services.  The  city  decided  not  to  support  it  after  the  first  six 
or  seven  years,  and  having  devoted  much  money  to  it  and  furnished  it  in  every  way, 
and  still  gives  it  rent  and  light  and  heat,  its  actual  conduct  must  be  paid  for  by  the 
manufacturers  who  use  it,  and  there  are  thousands  of  them  using  it. 

I  could  not  help  but  think  the  other  day,  when  somebody  was  speaking  about 
European  competition  and  French  competition  and  German  competition—  when  that 
gentleman  was  talking  to  me  there  was  another  gentleman  standing  not  25  feet  away 
who  was  his  strongest  competitor,  and  much  stronger  than  anything  in  France  or  Ger- 
many. Gentlemen,  you  are  in  competition  with  yourselves,  and  that  is  the  strongest 
competition  which  you  have  to  meet.  You  are  the  sharpest  manufacturers  and  traders 
in  the  world,  and  you  are  in  competition  with  yourselves,  and  that  is  all  right,  too. 

A  second  department  of  this  institution  is  carried  on  for  commercial  education. 
The  State  of  Pennsylvania  has  made  an  appropriation  for  the  last  eight  years  for  com- 
mercial education  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  and  it  is  the  only  State  in  the  Union 
that  is  doing  it.  I  want  to  state  that  Illinois,  Wisconsin  and  two  or  three  other  States, 
especially  Massachusetts,  are  waking  up  to  that  fact,  and  they  have  been  to  our  bureau 
to  see  what  we  are  doing  in  the  last  month  or  two,  and  in  the  new  Boston  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  with  its  5000  members,  they  are  taking  that  thing  up  with  vigor. 

I  want  to  state  that  for  eight  years  we  have  been  making  up  epitomes  on  manu- 
factured materials  and  on^  other  material,  on  rubber  from  Brazil,  on  cocoa  and  fibers 
from  all  over  Latin  America,  and  putting  it  in  series  and  sending  it  out  to  the  schools 
of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  with  all  the  infomation  with  it,  and  then  going  out  and 
setting  these  things  up  and  showing  the  teachers  how  to  use  them.  We  have  gone  all 
over  the  State  doing  that,  and  we  have  distributed  these  magnificent  collections,  that 
would  cover  the  whole  front  of  this  building  here  in  cases  eight  feet  high  and  seven 
or  eight  lines  of  fixtures.  We  have  put  those  into  over  2000  schools  in  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  at  the  present  moment  we  have  600  collections  ready  to  distribute, 
and  we  have  more  than  2000  schools  asking  for  them.  That  is  the  educational  side 
of  it  in  the  State. 

Another  little  thing  we  are  doing  in  the  State  :     We  have  found  that  in  the 
Mate  of  Pennsylvania,  which  is  an  exceedingly  large  State,  with  a  great  many  schools 
the  mountain  sections,  that  there  are  18,400  little  ungraded  schools  in  these  remote 
districts.    We  have  planned  a  system  of  lectures.    These  lectures  cover  these  South 
American  republics  ;  they  cover  the  various  parts  of  the  world  with  fine  lantern  slides, 
with  a  lantern  the  lecture  written  up  in  each  case,  and  with  everything,  so  that  we  are 
sending  those  facilities  into  the  little  remote  schools  everywhere.    We  do  not  allow 
hem  to  go  into  a  big  city,  but  we  are  sending  them  to  those  little  remote  schools.    It 
:  m  the  schools,  then  they  bring  parents  in  and  use  it  with  the  information.    Then 
it  goes  into  the  church,  and  it  is  often  used  four  or  five  times  before  it  gets  back  to  us 
We  are  circulating  that  material  all  over  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.    Then,  as  to  the 
are  d°"?g  in  the  dty  of  Philadelphia.    Last  year  we  lectured  to 


•pr 


nnnn       u  . 

:     i  chlldre"in  special  appointments  of  schools,  and  we  gave  them  lectures  o 
Th      °nC  •     A  K  fm  Amencan  republics  repeatedly,  and  on  the  oriental  coun- 


/LleCeiK         S  Jf  tUre  by  aPP°intment,  and  after  the  lecture  had  been  given 
5  taken  by  skilled  experts  and  given  two  hours  each  time  in  the  particular 


particular 
166 


collection  about  which  the  lecture  was  concerned.  We  have  so  much  of  that  work  in 
the  city  that  we  cannot  do  one-tenth  of  it,  but  it  has  seemed  an  illustration  of  what 
may  grow  out  of  a  commercial  museum. 

I  want  to  invite  every  one  of  you  gentlemen,  and  it  will  pay  you  if  you  are 
going  South  or  anywhere  into  trade,  to  examine  the  facilities  which  we  have.  We 
have  a  library  that  excels  any  library  in  the  United  States  or  any  library  in  the  world 
in  particular  commercial  documents.  It  contains  every  consular  paper  that  is  pub- 
lished by  the  British  consuls,  and  they  are  in  our  library  ip  days  after  printing.  It 
contains  all  the  French,  Belgian,  Austrian  consulate  publications.  It  contains  the  offi- 
cial, statistical  and  commercial  publications  of  every  Government  that  has  any.  Be- 
ginning 15  years  ago  without  a  single  paper  or  book,  it  has  over  70,006  numbers  in  it. 
Of  course,  it  is  the  repository  for  everything  that  our  own  Government  publishes. 
That  library  is  free,  and  a  librarian  in  it  who  is  a  statistician  to  help  anybody  get  out 
anything  they  want.  It  contains  an  official  gazetteer  and  gazette  of  every  Government 
that  has  one,  and,  of  course,  all  the  reports  of  the  concessions  and  everything  that  is 
going  on  is  published  in  those  journals.  It  has  a  man  that  does  nothing  else  but  file 
tariffs  and  look  out  for  any  changes  to  tell  in  a  moment  if  there  has  been  a  change  in 
a  tariff  in  a  given  country. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  was  very  glad  to  extend  the  time  of  Dr.  Wil- 
son, because  I  am  aware  of  the  great  practical  work  that  his  institution  is  doing,  and 
I  wanted  you  to  be  familiar  with  it,  and  we  are  under  a  great  debt  of  gratitude  to  him 
for  coming  here  and  participating  in  the  Conference  and  telling  us  about  it.  He  has 
told  us  enough  so  you  know  it  is  important.  I  know  what  he  has  said  has  suggested 
to  you  some  questions,  and  I  would  like  to  have  anyone  ask  any  question  of  Dr.  Wil- 
son that  he  would  like  to  have  answered  that  would  further  inform  him  as  to  the  work 
that  great  institution  of  which  he  is  the  head  is  doing. 

MR.  LINDSAY:  Several  inquiries  have  been  made  to  me — four  or  five  in  the 
course  of  the  last  few  days — in  regard  to  the  Philadelphia  museum,  making  it  evident 
that  the  idea  is  prevalent  that  the  scope  of  that  utility  is  local. 

DOCTOR  WILSON  :  Mr.  Lindsay  has  asked  me  if  the  work  of  the  Philadelphia 
museum  is  local.  There  is  an  idea  that  it  is  local.  We  have  to  do  a  great  deal  of  work 
for  the  Philadelphia  people  and  the  people  of  Pennsylvania.  I  made  an  estimate  a 
year  or  two  ago,  and  40  per  cent  of  all  the  work  we  did  was  done  without  any  fee 
whatever;  I  mean  the  commercial  work,  translations,  and  everything  for  the  city  of 
Philadelphia.  The  city  of  Philadelphia  sends  up  translations  for  12  different  lan- 
guages, to  be  posted  around  the  city  on  account  of  the  great  numbers  of  foreigners 
there  who  have  to  know  something  about  the  regulations  of  the  city ;  and  all  kinds  of 
work  of  that  kind  we  do  without  any  fee  whatever.  We  help  every  manufacturer  and 
everybody  that  comes  to  the  museum  without  fee.  We  are  rather  prohibited  from 
any  broad  advertisement  of  this  institution,  because  the  city  appropriates  to  it.  We 
use  the  city  seal  on  our  paper,  and  we  are  proud  to  be  reckoned  a  department  of  the 
city,  and  all  our  accounts  go  into  the  city  treasury  naturally.  In  the  very  beginning 
our  Board  of  Controllers  asked  to  have  the  late  President  Roberts  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad  for  one  of  its  heads;  it  has  had  a  President  of  the  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road on  it  ever  since.  President  Thompson  was  the  next  one,  and  so  on  down,  one 
of  the  chief  men,  as  a  governor  of  this  institution.  It  has  some  of  the  leading 
department  store  proprietors  on  it,  and  it  has  a  lot  of  leading  men.  We  do  not  adver- 
tise very  much,  but  I  could  tell  you  that  we  are  serving  a  hundred  firms  within  a 
scope  of  50  miles  to  1000  miles  west  of  here,  and  that  we  are  serving  firms  in  almost 
every  large  city  of  the  United  States  with  this  special  commercial  information,  and 
that  the  institution  has  been  broad,  and  gives  anybody,  any  firms,  or  anything  any- 
where in  the  United  States  from  the  very  beginning.  We  cannot  help  the  opinion 
going  on  that  we  are  simply  local. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  hope  the  Doctor  will  prepare  a  manuscript  in 
extenso,  that  we  can  publish  in  our  printed  record  of  this  Conference.  Doctor  Wilson 
is  right  here,  and  will  be  glad  to  answer  specifically  any  questions  and  give  any  advice 
that  he  can  in  his  position. 

QUESTION  :  The  State  of  Pennsylvania  appropriates  each  year  for  your  edu- 
cational work — what  amount? 

DOCTOR  WILSON  :     It  has  never  been  less  than  $75,ooo  in  the  two  years. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  want  to  say  that  the  Doctor  and  the  museum 
have  given  us  always  the  most  hearty  co-operation,  and  I  want  to  acknowledge  that 

167 


publicly  here,  in  everything  we  have  undertaken.     We  arc  very  grateful  to  them  for 
their  assistance,  and  we  recommend  them  most  highly. 

Mr.  Graham  Clark  is  one  of  the  men  that  the  Bureau  of  Manufactures  has  sent 
through  South  America,  and  who  is  now  upon  the  Tariff  Board,  and  is  a  specialist 
on  textiles.  He  has  already  met  all  the  textile  men,  so  I  am  not  going  to  ask  him  to 
enlarge  upon  that,  but  in  the  few  minutes  to  make  some  practical  suggestions  from 
his  own  travels  in  Latin  America. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  W.  A.  GRAHAM  CLARK,  TEXTILE  EXPERT 

OF   THE   TARIFF   BOARD   ON   AMERICAN 

COTTONS  IN  LATIN-AMERICA. 

MR.  CLARK  said: 

The  cotton  goods  imports  of  the  20  countries  of  Latin  America  proper  now 
amount  to  some  $110,000,000  annually.  Of  this  trade  we  obtain  about  a  twelfth, 
Germany  over  an  eighth  and  Great  Britain  over  one-half.  Our  exporters  have 
confined  their  efforts  mainly  to  the  countries  of  the  Caribbean  Sea,  and  in  most 
South  American  markets  you  will  find  American  cottons  conspicuous  by  their 
absence.  The  United  States  leads  in  the  cotton  goods  trade  of  Honduras,  Haiti  and 
Dominican  Republic;  Germany  in  that  of  Bolivia,  and  the  United  Kingdom  in  that 
of  the  other  16. 

It  is  of  importance  in  attempting  to  get  foreign  trade  in  any  line  to  ascertain 
first  what  markets  are  most  worthy  of  attention.  The  imports  of  cotton  goods  into 
Latin  America  in  1908,  the  latest  year  for  which  I  have  nearly  complete  figures,  were 
as  follows : 

Argentina $27.119,134 

Brazil 15,788,044 

Chile 9,652,405 

Cuba 8,908,175 

Mexico  8,778,832 

Uruguay 1907  4,709,248 

Colombia Est.  4,500,000 

Venezuela 4,191,270 

Peru 3,002,700 

Ecuador 2,453,900 

Haiti Est.  2,000,000 

Salvador < 1,771,764 

Guatemala 1,389,576 

Dominican  Republic 1,186,551 

Bolivia Est.  1,000,000 

Nicaragua 909,217 

Costa  Rica 883,503 

Honduras 729,854 

Paraguay 649,724 

Panama 593,990 


$100,216,887 

These  figures,  taken  from  the  statistics  of  the  importing  countries,  show  a 
total  of  a  trifle  over  a  hundred  million,  which,  owing  to  the  fact  that  1908  was  an 
off  year,  are  some  ten  million  less  than  usual.  We  find  from  these  figures  that  there 
are  five  big  markets— Argentina,  Brazil,  Chile,  Cuba  and  Mexico.  In  1908  we 
obtained  only  2.53  per  cent  of  the  cotton  goods  trade  of  Argentina,  in  Brazil,  2.35 
per  cent,  in  Chile,  4.62  per  cent,  in  Cuba,  11.95  per  cent,  and  in  Mexico,  8.92  per  cent. 

The  largest  markets  lie  farthest  from  us,  and  in  these  we  do  the  least.  I 
would  especially  call  your  attention  to  the  importance  of  the  cotton  goods  trade  of 
Argentina.  In  a  normal  year  Argentina  imports  over  thirty  millions  of  cotton  goods, 
and  this  trade  is  yearly  increasing.  Italian  mills  find  in  Argentina  their  best  market, 
and  it  is  one  of  the  most  important  markets  catered  to  by  the  mills  of  England, 
Germany,  France,  Belgium  and  Spain.  They  require  large  amounts  of  cotton  goods 
of  all  kinds,  but  outside  of  some  cotton  bags,  yarn  and  duck,  we  have  made  scarcely 
any  attempt  at  competition.  For  instance,  they  imported  in  1908  $3,854,516  worth 
of  cotton  prints,  and  of  this  amount  we  shipped  them  $237.  Over  98  per  cent,  of  the 
cotton  goods  trade  of  Argentina  is  handled  through  Buenos  Aires,  and  this  business 
is  concentrated  in  the  hands  of  about  eight  large  foreign  firms  who  have  plenty  of 
capital  and  who,  in  many  cases,  prefer  cash  discounts.  The  cotton  goods  trade  of 

1 68 


Argentina  is  not  only  large  and  growing,  but  is  a  permanent  one,  for  the  attempts 
to  grow  and  manufacture  cotton  in  Argentina  have  had  little  success,  and  the  people 
prefer  obtaining  their  goods  at  reasonable  prices  rather  than  the  stimulation  of  an 
exotic  industry  by  artificial  means. 

As  the  time  at  my  disposal  is  limited,  I  will  not  attempt  to  go  into  the  details 
of  the  specific  kinds  of  cottons  required  in  the  various  countries,  but  if  there  is  any 
exporter  here  interested  in  this  matter  I  will  be  glad  to  talk  with  him  personally.  It 
is  to  the  interest  of  the  manufacturer  and  exporter  to  know  on  what  lines  we  cannot 
compete  as  well  as  on  what  lines  we  can  compete.  My  investigations  show  that  on 
bleached  and  fancy  goods,  where  the  labor  cost  amounts  to  40  per  cent,  or  more  of  the 
total  cost,  we  cannot,  under  present  conditions,  offer  much  competition.  On  lines 
like  hosiery,  embroidery  and  lace,  where  we  import  a  large  portion  of  our  own 
requirements  from  abroad,  we  cannot,  of  course,  expect  to  export.  On  the  other 
hand,  we  are  able  to  compete  strongly  in  gray  goods,  in  standard  lines  of  prints, 
in  "blue  goods,"  such  as  denims,  stripes  and  plaids,  and  in  the  medium  grade  of 
other  colored  cottons,  such  as  ginghams  and  trouserings.  Considering  that  there  is 
a  portion  of  this  trade  on  which  we  cannot  compete,  and  that  on  most  of  the  other 
lines  we  will  meet  strong  competition,  I  estimate  that  the  share  to  which  we  are 
entitled  is  at  least  a  third  of  the  total.  In  other  words,  instead  of  the  $10,000,000 
of  cotton  goods  we  sold  Latin  America  in  1908  we  should  have  sold  them,  and  could 
have  sold  them,  over  $30,000,000. 

In  Brazil  there  are  1,000,000  spindles  and  35,000  looms;  in  Mexico  726,278 
spindles  and  25,327  looms,  and  in  Peru  52,250  spindles  and  1750  looms.  Brazil  now 
turns  out  some  $40,000,000  worth  of  cotton  goods  annually,  or  about  two-thirds  of 
their  total  consumption.  Both  Mexico  and  Peru  control  their  home  market  for 
coarse  cottons.  In  the  other  countries  cotton  manufacturing  is  in  its  infancy,  and, 
in  my  opinion,  will  never  be  strong  enough  to  offer  much  competition  with  goods 
made  abroad.  Except  in  the  three  countries  named,  our  competition  will  be  with 
Europe  alone. 

American  cotton  manufacturers  are  favored  by  the  fact  that,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  section  of  the  east  coast  from  Pernambuco  downwards,  American  goods 
can  be  delivered  quicker  than  European  goods,  and  also  by  the  fact  that  to  almost 
every  port  of  Latin  America  the  freight  rates  on  cotton  goods  are  less  from  New 
York  than  from  Liverpool.  From  New  York  to  Havana  the  rate  on  cotton  goods 
is  14  cents  a  cubic  foot  as  against  19.7  cents  a  cubic  foot  from  Liverpool.  To  La 
Guaira  the  American  rate  is  i*  cents  and  the  English  28.9  cents;  to  Callao  in  Peru 
via  the  Straits  of  Magellan  the  American  rate  is  26  cents  and  the  English  40.5  cents 
a  cubic  foot.  The  greatest  difference  in  our  favor  is  to  the  port  that  our  cotton 
goods  exporters  most  neglect.  To  Buenos  Aires  the  rate  on  cotton  goods  is  only 
10  cents  a  cubic  foot  from  New  York,  as  compared  with  24.3  cents  a  cubic  foot  from 
Liverpool. 

On  cotton  goods  the  freight  rates  are  in  our  favor,  but  in  shipping  there  are 
other  things  to  consider  besides  the  rate,  and  American  ships  under  the  American 
flag  would  much  aid  our  business.  Take  Buenos  Aires  as  an  example.  We  have 
the  cheapest  freight  rate,  but  ships  only  run  at  intervals  of  two  weeks,  and  if  a 
ship  is  full  the  cargo  has  to  wait  another  fortnight,  and  after  leaving  the  port  it 
takes  them  28  days  to  arrive.  From  England  and  Italy  there  are  fast  19  and  17-day 
boats,  and  cargo  never  has  to  wait  over  a  week.  The  European  lines  cater  not  only 
to  the  shipper,  but  to  the  traveler,  and  ships  like  the  "Asturias"  and  others  of  the 
Royal  Mail,  fitted  with  elevators  and  all  modern  conveniences,  are  not  surpassed  by 
the  liners  that  ply  between  New  York  and  Europe.  The  superior  quickness  and 
comfort  of  the  European  trip  sends  the  importer  to  Europe  instead  of  to  the  United 
States  and  has  an  important  effect  on  trade.  We  cannot  expect  to  offer  similar 
accommodations  until  one  end  of  the  steamer's  track  is  firmly  anchored  in  the 
United  States  by  American  ownership. 

Speaking  of  shipping,  there  is  one  thing  that  is  worth  considering,  and  that 
is  that  cheap  and  convenient  facilities  for  unloading  freight  are  almost  as  important 
as  cheap  freight  rates.  The  importers  at  ports  such  as  Havana  and  Valparaiso  pay 
millions  of  dollars  annually  for  lighterage.  On  the  west  coast  of  South  and  Central 
America  there  are  few  good  harbors,  and  in  some  cases,  for  instance  at  the  Guate- 
malan and  Salvadorean  ports,  both  passengers  and  freight  have  to  be  slung  down 
from  the  ship's  deck  to  a  rowboat  and  then  slung  up  again  from  the  boat  to  the 
end  of  a  long  steel  pier  projecting  out  into  the  ocean,  or  else  the  boat  rushed  through 
the  reef  and  beached  on  the  sands.  Antofagasta,  in  Northern  Chile,  holds  the  world's 

169 


'MBXICO- 

COMMERCE, -  FISCAL  YEA-R-1QO3-1Q 


KITED  STATES 
*  56, 4:39,181 


record  for  excessive  lighterage  charge.  The  seven  steamship  companies  operating 
there  do  their  own  lightering  and  have  a  combination  by  which  they  are  enabled  to 
charge  exorbitant  rates.  Their  printed  schedule  reads  like  a  customs  tariff,  as  they 
charge  for  lighterage  on  the  value  rather  than  on  the  weight.  They  divide  goods 
according  to  their  value  into  10  classes  and  charge  from  75  centavos  to  20  Chilean 
paper  pesos  a  hundred  kilos;  that  is  to  say,  the  lighterage  charges  run  from  $1.78 
to  $4740  per  ton  of  2240  pounds.  On  some  classes  of  goods  the  charge  for  the  light- 
erage a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  ship  to  shore  is  actually  more  than  the  freight  rate 
for  a  distance  of  8000  to  9000  miles.  One  effect  of  the  Panama  Canal  should  be  the 
improvement  of  the  landing  conditions  in  the  ports  of  the  West  Coast  and  the  cons'e- 
quent  lowering  of  intermediate  costs. 

We  need  American  banks  in  South  America  not  only  to  facilitate  our  trade, 
but  also  to  aid  in  the  investment  of  American  capital.  England  owes  much  of  her 
dominating  position  in  South  America,  as  we  owe  much  of  ours  in  Mexico,  to  the 
investment  of  capital,  and  this  is  an  important  factor  in  building  up  trade.  The 
London  and  River  Plate  Bank  pays  about  20  per  cent,  a  year  in  dividends,  others  do 
almost  as  well,  and  there  is  no  reason  why  an  American  bank  should  not  also  be  a 
paying  institution. 

We  need  more  American  houses  in  South  America.  What  W.  R.  Grace  &  Co. 
and  Wessels,  Duval  &  Co.  have  done  on  the  West  Coast  in  stimulating  American  trade 
other  American  firms  could  do  in  Brazil  and  the  Rio  Plata.  You  know  the  foreign 
trade  of  Latin  America  is  not  in  the  hands  of  natives,  but  of  European  houses  estab- 
lished there — English,  Germans  and  -others — and  these  naturally  favor  their  own 
country  unless  they  obtain  special  advantages  from  others.  In  the  same  way  we 
need  American  houses  who  will  give  the  first  preference  to  American  goods. 

I  have  met  in  South  America  but  one  American  traveling  man  in  the  line  of 
cotton  goods,  but  I  met  a  score  or  more  of  Europeans.  These  were  mainly  Germans 
and  Austrians,  who  in  many  cases  were  traveling  for  English  houses.  They  were 
good  linguists  and  seemed  to  take  their  time,  staying  in  each  place  long  enough  to 
get  on  good  terms  with  the  importers.  In  Latin  America,  especially  in  Brazil,  the 
"amigo"  business  plays  a  greater  part  in  business  than  in  any  other  section  of  the 
world,  and  the  fact  that  the  drummer  is  his  "amigo"  offsets  with  the  importer  sev- 
eral additional  discounts  offered  by  a  new  competitor.  A  new  line  is  harder  to 
establish,  but  once  established  is  harder  to  displace  in  Latin  America  than  it  is  in 
the  United  States.  A  traveling  man  must  be  "simpatico,"  and  not  only  speak  the 
language,  but  fall  in  with  the  customs  and  modes  of  life  of  the  natives  to  obtain 
and  maintain  a  permanent  business. 

The  countries  of  Latin  America  now  contain  some  72,000,000  people,  and 
though,  outside  of  Argentina  and  Southern  Brazil,  the  rate  of  increase  of  population 
has  been  very  slow,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  in  the  future  the  current  of 
immigration  will  become  much  more  rapid.  The  increase  in  population,  together 
with  the  increasing  prosperity  of  the  people,  will  necessarily  result  in  an  increased 
demand  for  cotton  goods,  and  whether  the  additional  purchases  from  abroad  will 
furnish  employment  to  capital  and  labor  in  the  United  States  or  in  Europe  depends 
largely  on  whether  we  are  in  earnest  in  our  desire  for  their  business,  that  is,  whether 
we  will  furnish  them  what  they  want ;  put  up  as  they  want  it. 

In  1910  the  figures  for  our  total  trade  show  that  we  bought  from  Latin 
America  $152,188,000  more  than  we  sold  them,  and  yet  we  are  in  better  position 
to  supply  their  needs  than  they  are  to  supply  ours.  We  need  their  coffee  and  sugar 
and  rubber,  and  they  need  our  manufactures.  In  particular  let  us  remember  that 
the  largest  single  import  of  Latin  America  is  cotton  goods,  and  if  we  cater  to  their 
requirements  in  this  line  we  can  fill  up  much  of  the  empty  space  in  the  ships  that 
are  southward  bound. 

My  line  has  been  entirely  investigating  the  market  abroad  for  the  manufac- 
turers of  cotton,  and  necessarily  I  have  been  more  interested  in  that  than  in  anything 
else.  But  I  have  also  seen  something  of  the  general  trade.  I  noticed  one  point  that 
was  stated  here  about  the  freight  rates.  I  would  also  say  that  on  my  special  line 
we  have  cheaper  freight  rates  than  any  nation  in  the  world.  That  may  surprise 
some  of  you,  but  to  every  port  in  Latin  America  I  think,  without  exception,  the  rate 
on  cotton  goods  from  New  York  is  less  than  the  rate  from  Liverpool.  To  Havana, 
for  instance,  the  rate  from  New  York  is  12  cents,  plus  2  cents  extra  for  lighterage, 
which  is  14  cents ;  from  Liverpool  it  is  19.7 ;  Callao,  Peru,  26,  against  40^2  from  Liv- 
erpool, and  to  Buenos  Aires  the  rate  is  10  cents  a  cubic  foot,  and  24.3  per  cubic  foot 

171 


from  Liverpool  Buenos  Aires  is  the  biggest  importing  country  in  cotton  goods 
in  the  Western  Hemisphere  outside  of  the  United  States.  They  take  thirty  millions 
a  year__the  market  we  neglect  most— and  yet  our  freight  rate  on  cotton  goods  is 
less  than  half  that  of  any  European  nation. 

MR.  DE  ARMAS:  I  would  like  to  make  a  suggestion  to  Mr.  Clark  along  that 
line  in  the  textile  business,  especially  with  regard  to  the  selling  of  stamped  fabrics. 

MR.  GRAHAM  CLARK:  Having  a  special  brand  on  the  fabric  is  a  very  good 
thing,  but  the  English,  as  a  rule,  do  not  do  it,  and  the  importer,  as  a  rule,  wants 
his  brand  and  not  the  mill  brand,  and  in  some  respects  it  is  better  that  way,  because 
fhe  importer  wants  to  establish  himself  among  the  retailers  and  small  stores,  and  he 
does  not  want  to  establish  the  mill  brand. 

MR.  DE  ARMAS  :  Do  you  recognize  that  the  English  are  far  ahead  -of  you  in 
that  special  line  of  standard  fabrics?  I  would  also  like  to  hear  some  suggestions 
in  connection  to  that. 

MR.  GRAHAM  CLARK:  What  do  you  mean  by  "stamped  goods"— print  goods? 
No,  I  do  not  recognize  that  the  English  are  ahead  of  us.  Perhaps  you  are  not 
fully  acquainted  with  it,  but  on  print  goods  of  standard  lines  we  can  compete  with 
any  nation,  because  we  turn  them  out  in  bulk.  On  fine  goods,  40  per  cent  or  more, 
we  can  compete  with  any  countries. 

MR.  LEWIS  :  Are  the  freight  rates  that  you  mentioned  the  special  rates,  or  such 
as  may  be  obtained  from  the  consuls  ? 

MR.  GRAHAM  CLARK  :  Always  special  rates,  but  the  rates  I  give  are  the  rates 
given  me  by  the  importer.  In  many  cases  I  have  seen  them  on  the  actual  invoices. 

MR.  LEWIS  :     Do  big  firms  very  often  give  special  rates  ? 

MR  GRAHAM  CLARK  :     I  am  giving  the  general  rates. 

MR.  GRAY  :  Please  tell  me  in  a  general  way  how  the  exports  of  manufactured 
products  from  the  Southern  States  of  Latin  America  compare  with  the  exports  from 
the  Eastern  States.  Tell  me  also,  please,  what  is  the  business  which  is  controlled 
and  financed  by  commission  merchants  at  New  York,  and  tell  me,  if  you  can,  whether 
the  mills  in  the  South  are  equipped  with  machinery  for  making  goods  as  they  ought 
to  be  made? 

MR.  GRAHAM  CLARK  :  The  export  business  is  done  entirely  by  the  export  firms 
in  New  York.  There  is  a  possibility  of  one  or  two  Eastern  States  who  do  conduct 
business  with  Latin  America ;  that  deals  with  the  commission  houses  in  Latin  Amer- 
ica, and  in  regard  to  the  mills  in  the  South  and  in  respect  of  those  in  the  North,  1 
would  like  to  say  that  I  think  the  bulk  of  the  goods  from  the  South — that  the  mills 
of  the  South  are  the  exporting  mills  today,  notwithstanding  a  great  many  mills  in 
the  North  export;  but  most  of  the  denim,  gray  sheet  and  plaids  exported  to  the  West 
Indies  and  other  parts  of  Central  America,  Colombia,  Venezuela,  and  so  forth,  come 
from  the  South;  print  goods  from  the  North. 

DR.  ROWE:  Did  Mr.  Clark  intend  to  leave  us  under  the  impression  that  the 
freight  rates  in  general  from  any  seaport,  either  on  the  East  or  West  Coast  of  South 
America,  were  lower  than  the  freight  rates  from  Europe  ? 

MR.  GRAHAM  CLARK:  I  spoke  of  nothing  but  the  general  rates.  I  will  say  I 
do  not  know.  I  understand  that  machinery  and  some  other  classes  of  goods  do  not 
have  the  cheapest  rates.  I  am  speaking  of  cotton  goods.  The  rate  on  cotton  goods, 
with  scarcely  an  exception,  is  lower  from  the  United  States. 

QUESTION  :  Are  these  simply  published  rates,  or  are  they  rates  secured  after 
investigation  ? 

MR.  GRAHAM  CLARK:  The  rates  I  got,  I  asked  the  shipping  companies  at  the 
different  ports  for,  and  I  also  got,  at  several  places,  the  actual  invoices  from  the  mer- 
chants showing  the  rates. 

DR.  ROWE:  In  entire  confidence,  were  the  rates  furnished  by  the  steamship 
companies  ? 

MR.  GRAHAM  CLARK:  They  are  the  general  rates.  Of  course,  some  of  the 
larger  firms  get  special  rates,  but  I  verified  that  by  invoices  from  the  importers. 

MR.  MANNING  :  Will  the  difference  in  the  weight  of  packing,  with  our  Ameri- 
can custom  of  packing  cotton  goods  in  wooden  cases  and  the  European  custom  of 
packing  in  burlap  bales,  make  any  great  difference  in  the  cost  of  freight? 

MR.  GRAHAM  CLARK  :  What  I  saw  came  packed  in  bales,  except  certain  lines, 
gray  sheeting  were  packed  in  bales,  not  cases ;  but  the  English  packed  in  bales,  and 
very  often  compressed  to  three-fourths  of  what  our  bale  sizes  are,  and  the  freight 
rates  are  by  the  cubic  foot.  The  English  compressed  the  bales  very  much  tighter, 
and  they  protect  the  bales  better. 

172 


DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  You  have  seen  Mr.  Clark  and  he  will  be  very 
glad  to  answer  any  questions.  Thank  you,  Mr.  Clark.  We  have  been  pleased  and 
instructed  by  some  of  the  splendid  words  we  have  heard  from  Bishop  Kinsolving, 
who,  although  a  missionary  in  the  church,  is  wonderfully  well  informed  on  com- 
merce, and  there  is  a  certain  point  he  wanted  to  answer,  and  he  is  so  illuminating 
that  I  have  allowed  him  just  three  minutes  at  this  time  to  explain  that  point. 

BISHOP  KINSOLVING:  Consul  General  Anderson  of  Rio  said  last  year  in  his 
last  consular  report  that  trade  with  Brazil  was  decreasing.  Now,  I  want  to  give  you 
a  specific  case  to  show  why  it  does  decrease,  and  just  the  reason,  and  it  is  up  to  you 
to  correct  those  conditions.  Take  that  section  of  Brazil  that  I  think  is  the  best,  from 
Santos  to  the  south,  and  there  is  not  an  American  business  house  nor  American  busi- 
ness agency  in  all  that  southern  section.  All  of  the  American  trade  that  is  done  there 
is  done  through  Germans  and  the  English.  There  are  various  importing  houses. 
They  can  put  there  almost  any  excellent  product  that  you  can  give  them.  Cotton 
goods  they  will  distribute  and  sell  for  you,  and  they  will  do  it  in  preference  to  their 
own  goods,  because  they  can  sell  it  cheaper  than  their  own.  That  is  all  well  and  good, 
but  here  is  where  you  lose  an  opportunity.  Two  years  ago,  in  those  Southern  States, 
and,  in  fact,  all  over  Brazil,  the  Brazilian  Government  determined  to  stimulate  rice 
culture.  Secondly,  the  Brazilian  Government  put  on  a  very  heavy  import  tax  on  rice. 
The  consequence  was  there  was  a  splendid  demand  everywhere,  not  only  for  rice  agri- 
cultural machinery,  but  likewise  for  hydraulic  machinery  wherewith  to  flood  the  rice 
fields.  Now,  what  happened  ?  You  did  not  have  anybody  down  there,  and  you  have 
never  cared  enough  for  that  trade  nor  for  the  rest  of  Latin  America  to  send  your  men 
in  there  under  conditions  that  I  mentioned  yesterday,  the  accomplished  salesman  who 
has  caught  the  spirit  of  Latin  America  and  sympathizes  with  those  people,  knows 
their  history  and  their  traditions.  As  the  speaker  said  here  this  afternoon,  you  will 
never  trade  with  a  Latin  by  trying  to  get  the  best  of  him.  You  cannot  drive  him 
any  more  than  you  can  a  Government  mule,  or  half  as  well.  He  is  a  man  of  splendid 
sentiment,  pride  and  self-respect,  and  you  have  got  to  meet  him  on  the  same  con- 
ditions that  you  would  like  yourself,  and  treat  him  as  a  man,  as  intelligent,  with 
splendid  traditions  behind  him.  You  have  not  done  that;  in  consequence,  these 
German  houses,  what  did  they  do?  They  went  into  Brazil  with  thousands  and  tens 
of  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars'  worth  of  rice  agricultural  ma- 
chinery, and  also  the  hydraulic  machinery  wherewith  to  flood  the  rice  fields,  and 
sold  them. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Following  this  intermixture  of  suggestions,  [ 
now  have  great  pleasure  in  calling  upon  a  man  to  speak  upon  a  subject  that  we  are  all 
tremendously  interested  in,  and  that  is,  the  question  of  credits.  That  has  been  contin- 
ually coming  up  in  connection  with  Latin  America,  and  Mr.  Green  is  a  great  authority 
on  that  subject;  he  is  the  representative  of  R.  G.  Dun  &  Co.  in  their  foreign  depart- 
ment. He  has  made  a  special  study  of  this  subject,  and  at  the  close  of  his  remarks  he 
will  answer  questions. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  C.  A.  GREEN,  MANAGER  FOREIGN 
DEPARTMENT,  R.  G.  DUN  C&  CO. 

Mr.  GREEN  said: 

The  object  of  this  gathering,  the  frank  and  friendly  discussion  of  ways  and 
means  for  the  establishing  of  closer  commercial  relations  with  the  Republics  south 
of  us,  the  study  of  the  obstacles  that  may  still  be  in  the  way,  and  how  they  may  be 
removed,  has,  to  my  mind,  been  most  admirably  carried  out. 

It  has  always  seemed  that  we  have  stood  apart  from  our  Central  and  South 
American  neighbors  in  a  way  that  was  detrimental  to  the  best  interests  of  both, 
and  failed  to  make  the  proper  effort  to  get  acquainted  with  them  except  in  spots. 

I  have  great  faith  in  the  plan  being  earnestly  advocated  before  our  manufac- 
turers, importers  and  exporters,  that  they  should  visit  these  neighbors,  not  only 
to  get  to  know  the  business  men,  but  to  study  the  commercial  opportunities  from 
the  viewpoint  of  both  buyer  and  seller,  that  the  interchange  of  commodities  might 
be  extended,  as  is  fitting  between  near  neighbors.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  more 
of  this  \vill  be  done  in  the  near  future,  as  it  certainly  would  be  productive  of  great 
good. 

Much  valuable  service  has  been  rendered  by  the  Pan  American  Union  under 
its  progressive  Director  General,  Mr..  John  Barrett,  in  giving  us  a  fuller  knowledge 

173 


of  these  countries,  their  products  and  progress,  through  the  Monthly  Bulletin,  which 
has  stimulated  a  desire  to  investigate  and  learn  about  the  man. 

It  is  the  man  we  must  know,  and  the  more  we  come  in  contact  with  the 
business  men  of  the  world  the  more  we  must  realize  that  the  same  ideals  of  morality 
and  commercial  integrity  prevail  (no  one  nation  has  a  monopoly  of  these  things) 
and  we  begin  to  realize  that  there  is  truth  in  that  old  Chinese  saying,  "All  beneath 
the  heavens  are  one  family,  all  within  the  four  seas  are  brothers,"  all  being  equally 
desirous  of  establishing  such  friendly  relations  as  will  tend  to  develop  the  best  in 
their  respective  countries.  Furthermore  the  interdependence  of  nations  is  more  fully 
recognized.  None  can  reach  their  highest  development  by  standing  alone. 
»•  Among  the  many  interesting  and  important  subjects  that  have  been  discussed 
at  this  conference,  there  is  perhaps  none  of  greater  importance  or  more  worthy  of 
serious  consideration  than  that  of  credit.  Several  speakers  have  already  referred 
to  it.  It  is  the  great  foundation  on  which  all  business,  national  or  international, 
must  rest.  No  great  undertaking  by  nation,  state,  city  or  individual  can  be  carried 
out  except  by  the  use  of  credit. 

From  the  fact  that  so  large  a  per  cent,  of  the  world's  business  is  transacted 
on  credit,  and  as  an  English  writer  has  put  it,  "All  the  world  now  plays  at  shop- 
keeping,"  the  traders  of  the  world,  who  desire  to  trade  with  the  world  should  each 
do  their  part  by  seeing  to  it  that  full  information  is  on  file  with  the  leading  mer- 
cantile agencies,  covering  all  these  points,  that  they  may  conduct  business  with  each 
other  without  undue  delay  or  risk.  With  a  knowledge  of  conditions  they  can  con- 
form to  the  trade  requirements. 

None  question  the  importance  of  credit  in  the  domestic  trade,  yet  for  foreign, 
many  will  say,  "We  must  have  the  cash  before  we  let  the  goods  out  of  our  hands." 
It  is  pleasant  to  have  the  cash,  of  course,  and  you  can  get  it  if  you  have  something 
to  sell  that  the  buyer  must  have  and  cannot  get  elsewhere,  but  this  method  is  not 
in  accord  with  the  modern  science  of  business,  where  credit  is  the  controlling  element. 

It  hardly  seems  fair  to  expect  the  foreign  merchant  of  good  repute  to  put  up 
his  cash  in  advance  all  the  time.  It  is  all  very  well  for  us  to  say  that  he  takes  no 
risk  in  doing  that,  that  we  will  do  just  what  we  agree  to  do.  That  is  exactly  the 
position  he  takes  when  he  asks  from  the  American  manufacturer  the  same  terms 
that  are  acceptable  to  the  exporters  of  other  countries.  We  often  seem  to  forget 
that  there  are  just  as  good  men  to  trade  with  outside  the  United  States  as  in  it. 

The  foreign  merchant  finds  goods  and  appliances,  tools  and  machinery  adver- 
tised by  American  manufacturers  or  brought  to  his  attention  by  salesmen,  that  may 
be  well  adapted  to  his  trade,  the  manufacturer  is  anxious  to  market  his  product, 
and  while  both  buyer  and  seller  may  be  of  equally  good  standing  and  reputation, 
still  they  are  strangers  to  each  other  and  hesitate  as  to  how  they  shall  deal.  The 
foreign  merchant  may  arrange  for  a  credit  through  his  local  bank  and  buy  for  cash, 
or  if  conditions  are  such  that  this  is  inconvenient,  and  he  has  taken  the  proper  steps 
to  aid  the  mercantile  agencies  in  ascertaining  his  credit  standing  and  resources, 
then  the  manufacturer  can  learn  all  about  his  customer  as  readily  as  he  could  that 
of  a  domestic  concern,  and  the  transaction  of  business  is  thus  greatly  facilitated 
for  both  parties. 

Permit  me  to  quote  the  conclusions  of  Senator  Root,  who,  while  Secretary 
of  State,  paid  a  visit  to  our  sister  Republics  south  of  us,  and  on  his  return,  in  speaking 
of  trade  extension,  said  among  other  things  that  "The  American  producer  should 
arrange  to  conform  his  credit  system  to  that  prevailing  in  the  country  where  he 
wishes  to  sell  goods.  There  is  no  more  money  lost  on  commercial  credits  in  South 
America  than  there  is  in  North  America  (and  I  would  say,  not  as  much).  It  is 
often  inconvenient,  disagreeable  and  sometimes  impossible  for  them  to  conform  to 
our  ways,  and  the  requirement  that  they  should  do  so  is  a  serious  obstacle  to  trade. 
To  understand  credits  it  is,  of  course,  necessary  to  know  something  about  the  char- 
acter, trustworthiness  and  commercial  standing  of  the  purchaser." 

This  is  a  truth  long  ago  accepted,  and  in  the  early  days  in  our  own  country 
such  information  was  difficult  to  get ;  inquiries  by  letter  were  slow  and  unsatisfactory. 
We  had  no  fast  mail,  no  railroads,  the  idea  of  doing  business  in  New  York  today 
and  in  Chicago,  1000  miles  away,  tomorrow,  if  expressed,  would  have  made  a  man 
a  candidate  for  a  lunatic  asylum— if  they  had  any.  Traveling  agents  were  often  sent 
by  firms  to  visit  and  report  the  conditions  and  home  standing  of  customers,  but  the 
information  so  obtained  was  costly,  exclusive,  temporary,  and  often  unreliable. 

After  the  great  financial  trouble  in  1837  which  swept  so  many  business  men 
into  bankruptcy  and  with  the  slow  reorganization  of  affairs  that  followed,  the  need 

174 


of  some  system  for  obtaining  information  became  pressing,  and  in  1841  "The  Mer- 
cantile Agency"  was  established  in  New  York  city  (so  you  see  we  are  just  70  years 
old  this  year).  How  closely  the  development  of  this  work  has  kept  pace  with  the 
growth  of  the  country  is  well  known  to  you  all. 

Following  the  expansion  of  American  commerce,  the  first  branch  was  opened 
abroad  in  1857 ;  others  have  been  established  from  time  to  time  till  today  68  are 
in  operation  outside  of  the  United  States,  and  through  these  offices  and  connections 
information  is  obtained  in  regard  to  the  credit  standing  and  responsibility  of  traders 
in  any  part  of  the  world. 

I  mention  these  facts  to  show  you  that  the  important  question  of  credit  in 
the  development  of  your  trade  with  the  countries  south  of  us,  or  elsewhere  in  the 
world,  is  one  that  can  readily  be  met  by  the  use  of  the  same  means  you  are  accus- 
tomed to  use  in  your  home  trade. 

Our  consuls  who  are  doing  such  effective  work,  the  special  agents  of  the 
Bureau  of  Manufactures  and  the  work  of  the  Pan  American  Union,  show  you  where 
trade  opportunities  exist ;  add  to  this  a  knowledge  of  the  requirements  of  the  mar- 
kets, and  the  credit  standing  of  those  with  whom  you  must  deal,  and  the  extension 
of  your  trade  then  becomes  a  simple  problem  of  salesmanship.  Reference  has  been 
made  to  this  branch  of  work  several  times  during  our  sessions,  and  I  was  impressed 
with  the  remark  of  a  manufacturer  whose  goods  are  sold  all  over  the  world  nearly, 
who  said  there  are  few  salesmen,  but  peddlers  are  plenty.  It  is  the  salesman  and 
not  the  peddler  that  should  be  sent  into  the  foreign  field,  but  even  then  I  am  con- 
vinced that  we  will  not  succeed  in  securing  that  share  of  the  world's  trade  to  which 
we  are  entitled,  by  virtue  of  our  skill  in  manufacturing,  as  long  as  we  cling  to  the 
antiquated  system  of  cash  in  advance,  which  is  never  an  attractive  proposition. 

With  the  facts  in  regard  to  prospective  buyers,  readily  obtainable  before  him, 
the  American  credit  man  is  as  competent  to  decide  the  question  of  credit  as  those 
of  any  other  nation,  and  in  these  days  it  makes  little  difference  whether  your  draft 
is  on  Chicago,  San  Francisco,  Buenos  Aires  or  Hong  Kong. 

Commerce  is  the  life-blood  of  the  nation,  and  should  claim  all  facilities  for 
the  extension  and  security  of  its  operations. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  am  sure  that  that  has  suggested  a  number  of 
interesting  questions.  Has  someone  a  practical  question  to  ask  Mr.  Green? 

MR.  CHARLES  H.  DANKMEYER,  of  the  Gandy  Belting  Co.,  Baltimore:  I  would 
like  to  know  what  terms  of  payment  German  and  English  firms  extend — six  months 
and  nine  months? 

MR.  GREEN  :  Yes,  that  was  formerly  the  case,  but  an  investigation  shows  that 
the  credit  terms — those  long  terms  are  being  shortened  very  rapidly. 

MR.  DANKMEYER:    What  are  the  terms  usually  extended  now? 

MR.  GREEN  :  You  will  find  most  of  the  terms  are  from  60  to  90  days,  sometimes 
a  little  more  than  that  under  special  agreement.  In  that  case,  you  get  your  interest, 
of  course;  you  draw  your  draft  at  whatever  time  you  agree  upon,  and,  as  I  said,  you 
can  discount  it  at  your  own  bank  just  as  easily  as  a  local  draft. 

MR.  DANKMEYER  :  I  should  like  to  ask  Mr.  Green  if  he  has  been  able  to  de- 
termine whether  there  is  any  marked  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  German  manufac- 
turers to  increase  the  extension  of  terms  to  South  American  buyers? 

MR.  GREEN:  I  would  say,  sir,  that  there  is  a  decided  disposition  on  the  part 
of  manufacturers  to  meet  reasonable  credit  conditions.  Of  course,  we  can  tell  that 
through  our  work  and  gauge  it  very  closely  by  the  constantly  increasing  demand  for 
reports  on  houses  in  different  parts  of  the  world.  That  is  the  only  reason  why  these 
reports  should  come  out  so  rapidly. 

MR.  FARQUHAR:  There  is  less  loss  in  dealing  with  South  America  than  in 
dealing  with  almost  any  part  of  the  world,  and  final  loss  is  averaged  as  low  as  about 
one-tenth  of  i  per  cent,  of  the  total  amount  of  sales  in  South  America. 

MR.  GREEN  :  Permit  me  to  say,  in  connection  with  that  remark  of  Mr.  Far- 
quhar's,  just  a  few  days  ago  I  was  chatting  with  a  gentleman  much  in  the  same  posi- 
tion as  Mr.  Farquhar,  and  that  question  came  up,  and  the  senior  of  the  firm  called  in 
his  son,  who  takes  care  of  the  finances,  and  asked  him  what  was  the  proportion  of  the 
loss  in  foreign  trade.  He  thought  a  minute,  and  he  said,  "Father,*'  it  is  so  small  that 
I  do  not  know  how  to  figure  it."  He  simply  got  his  information  about  his  people.  He 
knew  who  he  was  dealing  with. 

MR.  FARQUHAR  :  I  might  like  to  remark,  in  that  connection,  that  we  are  selling 
firms  in  every  large  city  in  Latin  America,  and  only  one  or  two  ask  for  60  or  90  days. 


MR.  G I-M PERT:  I  want  to  know  whether  the  terms  of  30,  60  and  90  days  com- 
mence'when  the  goods  are  shipped  or  when  the  goods  arrive. 

MR.  GREEN  :  Usually  from  the  date  of  shipment.  Sometimes,  where  there  is  a 
Ion"  voyage  to  be  made,  an  extra  month  is  added  on  the  total  time  of  the  draft. 

'  MR.  KRAUSZ  :  Mr.  Green,  do  you  know  anything  about  the  laws  covering  the 
protection  of  foreign  credits  and  the  values?  This  is  a  question  which  frequently 
comes  up  in  the  foreign  trade. 

MR.  GREEN  :  On  that  particular  point  I  would  prefer  that  Mr.  Furdie,  who 
will  speak  to  you  tomorrow,  should  answer  that  question.  Mr.  Purdie  has  been  right 
in  the  heart  of  it  down  there. 

MR.  WILLIAMS,  of  the  Pittsburg  Chamber  of  Commerce:  Can  credit  informa- 
tion in  Latin  America  be  easily  obtained,  and  if  not,  how  much  would  it  cost  to  go 
down  there  and  go  about  getting  it? 

MR.  GREEN  :  That  is  good  shop  talk.  I  will  say  to  you,  sir.  that  the  best  way 
to  get  that  is  to  do  just  exactly  as  you  do  in  your  domestic  service — have  a  subscrip- 
tion for  the  foreign  service.  Then  you  can  get  your  information  in  regard  to  busi- 
ness houses  anywhere  in  the  world,  it  does  not  matter  where. 

MR.  BLOOD:  I  would  like  Mr.  Green  to  tell  us  what  facilities  R.  G.  Dun  & 
Co.  have  for  getting  rapid  returns  from  Latin  America  ? 

MR.  GREEN  :  I  would  say,  sir,  that  there  is  not  a  center  of  South  America  that 
is  not  covered  by  our  own  men,  and  if  it  happens  that  information  is  not  on  file  in 
New  York  it  is  just  a  question  of  mail  or  cable  to  get  it;  but  we  find  in  our  actual 
working  out  of  the  proposition  that  we  are  able  to  answer  at  once  fully  80  per  cent, 
of  all  the  inquiries  that  come  in  from  the  business  houses. 

MR.  FARQUHAR:  Do  you  answer  the  other  20  per  cent,  if  cable  charges  are 
paid? 

MR.  GREEN  :     If  important  questions  are  required,  wre  cable  at  your  expense. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:     Mr.  Green,  we  are  very  grateful  to  you. 

Gentlemen,  I  congratulate  you  that  you  are  going  to  have  an  opportunity  of 
hearing  a  few  words  from  James  W.  Porch  of  New  Orleans,  who  has  come  here 
especially  to  say  something  with  reference  to  our  trade  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  as 
related  to  the  Panama  Canal.  It  is  a  great  privilege  to  have  Mr.  Porch  here. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  JAMES  W.  PORCH,  EXPERT 
ON  PANAMA  CANAL 

Mr.  PORCH  said : 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  When  Senator  Pasco,  United  States 
Senator  from  Florida,  and  Professor  Johnston,  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 
were  sent  to  New  Orleans  to  study  statistical  data  and  facts  looking  towards  the 
Trans-Isthmian  Canal,  several  years  ago,  and  even  before  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment had  determined  upon  the  route,  I  was  chairman  of  the  committee  that  looked 
up  the  statistical  facts,  and  I  got  sufficiently  interested  in  the  matter  to  continue  with 
it  ever  since,  with  the  idea,  if  possible,  without  personal  gain  to  me  of  any  kind  or 
character,  to  see  to  it  that  when  the  Canal  was  finished  we  would  have  a  respectable 
portion  of  the  trade  to  go  through  it.  . 

In  order  to  make  the  record  right,  I  want  to  say  that  today  I  am  speaking  for 
the  Progressive  Union,  with  1700  members,  of  which  I  am  President ;  I  am  speaking 
for  the  Board  of  Trade,  whose  credentials  I  brought  to  this  Convention,  and  I  am  also 
speaking  for  the  Merchants  and  Manufacturers'  Association,  which,  under  the  triune, 
largely  controls  and  dominates  the  whole  situation  in  the  world. 

In  our  recent  effort  to  have  the  exposition  in  New  Orleans,  we  called  it  the 
ogical  point. '  With  my  firm  point  of  view  I  always  called  it  the  "logical  port."  I 
always  regarded  it  as  something  we  needed  to  use,  rather  than  to  celebrate,  and  I 
regarded  the  expenditure  of  $500,000,000,  more  or  less,  in  the  Panama  Canal,  as  a 
thing  that  immediately  concerned  the  Mississippi  Valley,  of  which  we  are  the  gate- 
way Forty-seven  miles  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  we  have  changed  the  trend 
the  commerce  of  the  world;  1380  miles  from  that  point  is  New  Orleans,  with 
35,000  miles  of  navigable  waterways  washing  by  its  doors,  reaching  the  greatest  and 
richest  valley  in  the  world. 

In  this  investigation  I  realized  that  we,  as  the  custodians  of  the  Mississippi  Val- 
ley, were  obliged  to  give  an  account  of  our  stewardship,  and  that  we  would  have  to 
give  a  record  of  the  faith  that  was  in  us  and  show  we  were  worthy  of  being  the  cus- 

176 


todian  of  the  Mississippi  Valley.  Therefore,  we  started  in  and  we  did  something  that 
no  other  State  in  the  United  States  has  done.  We  passed  a  constitutional  amendment 
on  the  last  day  of  November  exempting  American  freights  15  years  from  the  time  of 
the  start.  We  realized  that  it  takes  concentration  of  purpose  and  effort  in  order  to 
get  the  trade. 

We  are  after  the  small  shipper,  and  want  him  to  get  interested  in  the  great 
trade  of  South  America.  We  want  the  trade,  and  I  do  not  care  what  anybody  says, 
I  yet  reiterate  the  fact  that  commerce  does  follow  the  flag,  and  you  never  knew  it  to 
go  any  appreciable  distance  in  advance  of  it ;  you  have  to  build  up  the  civic  effort,  and 
you  have  to  have  continuity  of  that.  We  \\ant  to  carry  the  commerce  into  South 
America,  and  we  will  intensify  and  build  up  and  broaden  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  The 
Monroe  Doctrine,  since  1823,  has  been  the  predominating  principle  in  the  commercial 
relations  of  the  western  continents,  and  yet  we  have  not  taken  advantage  of  it,  and 
have  not  treated  our  brothers  as  brothers  in  the  building  up  of  the  commerce  we  want 
to  have.  Somebody  said  today,  "Don't  send  peddlers  to  the  South  American  country, 
send  merchantmen  or  send  commercial  missionaries  that  can  do  the  work,"  and  I  tell 
you  that  the  commercial  missionaries  who  can  do  the  work  will  do  it  when  you  put 
"Old  Glory"  at  the  front  of  the  ship  and  put  her  out  of  the  port  upon  a  regular,  de- 
pendable sailing  date. 

We  carry  47  per  cent,  of  the  imports  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  through  New- 
Orleans.  We  bring  in  from  Brazil  11,000  tons  of  coffee  every  month  on  an  average 
per  year,  and  yet  send  practically  nothing  back.  The  great  country  of  Brazil  ship- 
ping their  commodities  as  they  do  to  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  we,  in  turn,  sending 
ships  out  of  the  port  of  New  Orleans  from  the  center  of  population,  from  the  center 
of  wealth,  from  the  center  of  manufactures,  from  the  center  of  the  farm  products, 
in  ballast  to  go  elsewhere  to  load  to  go  back  to  Brazil.  It  is  not  a  decent  account  of 
our  stewardship ;  it  shows  lethargy  and  indifference,  and  it  is  going  to  be  cured,  and 
the  legislation  in  Louisiana  that  we  got  through  on  the  8th  of  November  is  the  thing 
that  will  start  an  American  German-Lloyd.  What  would  Hamburg  be  without  the 
German  flag?  What  would  Liverpool  and  London  be  without  the  English  flag,  and 
what  would  seaports  be  without  the  American  flag?  Why,  it  has  been  said  over  and 
over  again  that  we  cannot  build  our  ships  and  compete  with  the  foreigner.  I  am  in 
the  iron  and  steel  business,  and  I  have  made  it  a  study  to  get  the  facts  together,  and  I 
want  to  ask  you  how  was  it  that  we  built  the  Cape-to-Cairo  Railroad  in  Africa?  How 
was  it  that  we  built  some  of  the  men-of-war  of  Japan  ?  How  do  we  send  our  loco- 
motives all  over  the  world,  which  are  considered  the  very  best,  and  the  finer  grades  of 
machinery  of  every  kind ;  the  sort  that  represent  the  most  skilled  of  skilled  labor,  to 
every  part  of  the  world  ?  It  is  simply  because  we  make  them  better  than  all  the  world. 
No  shipyard  can  equip  itself  and  get  ready  to  handle  the  building  of  merchantmen 
unless  they  get  sufficient  orders  to  make  it  worth  while  and  get  the  cost  where  it  ought 
to  be.  But  I  have  reliable  information  from  John  H.  Trenton,  of  the  Iron  Trade  Re- 
view, that  five  ships  in  a  shipyard  in  this  country  can  be  turned  out  at  a  cost  as  low 
as  they  can  be  in  any  shipyard  in  the  world.  It  is  simply  a  matter  of  getting  busy  and 
proving  the  fact  that  we  can  do  as  well  as  the  world  can  do.  I  remember  when  they 
said,  "You  cannot  make  tin  in  the  United  States,  because  it  can  be  done  cheaper 
abroad,"  but  today  in  this  country  we  are  making  tin  and  shipping  it  to  markets  that 
before  were  not  thought  of. 

I  heard  somebody  say  here  that  if  Japan  could  pay  $12  a  knot  subsidy,  I  believe 
he  said,  that  we  should  let  Japan  do  the  commerce  on  "the  Pacific.  He  forgot  what 
Galusha  Grow  said,  "That  the  Atlantic  is  a  German,  an  English  and  a  French  ocean, 
but  the  Pacific  sea,  washing  the  shores  of  the  nationalities  of  the  far  eastern  wftrld, 
having  500,000,000  people,  will  be  known  as  an  American  sea."  And  that  was  said 
before  Japan  got  awake,  and  when  we  regarded  Japan  as  being  in  its  swaddling  clothes, 
and  today  the  spectacle  confronts  us  that  when  the  canal  across  the  Isthmus  is  fin- 
ished the  Japanese  flag  will  fly  over  the  commerce  of  the  United  States.  Why,  we 
should  set  forth  every  effort  of  the  brain  and  brawn  and  capital  that  we  possess  to 
check  an  effort  like  that,  and  never  permit  it.  There  is  no  reason  in  the  world  why, 
when  we  build  the  canal,  as  it  is  to  change  the  commerce  of  the  world,  that  we  should 
not  be  in  a  position  to  use  it.  Do  you  suppose  the  Suez  Canal  would  be  owned  and 
controlled  by  England  if  they  did  not  use  it  and  take  advantage  of  it  and  develop 
their  commerce? 

Let  me  tell  you  something  about  the  canal  in  the  handling  of  cargo.  Just  as 
soon  as  we  are  not  in  a  position  to  take  care  of  the  small  shipper  the  canal  will  be  of 
no  possible  avail  to  us.  It  will  be  simply  the  matter  of  the  aggregation  of  "bulk  car- 

177 


goes"  that  will  be  manipulated  by  the  foreign  steamship  owners  in  London,  Liverpool 
or  some  other  foreign  port,  and  he  will  use  the  ports  of  the  United  States  as  a  facility 
to  bring  his  business  through  the  canal  with  no  dependable  growth  in  the  respective 
ports  from  which  these  ships  sail.  If  we  want  to  use  that  canal,  we  want  to  act  along 
the  line  of  having  dependable,  settled,  satisfactory  sailing  dates,  and  let  it  be  known 
as  dependable,  regular  as  a  railroad  train,  and  that  on  11  o'clock  on  the  date  of  the 
sailing,  or  whatever  hour,  it  will  depart ;  and  not  only  that,  but  the  freight  never  brings 
the  people  into  the  point  where  you  want  to  trade.  People  buy  where  they  travel,  and 
travel  where  they  buy.  You  do  not  do  business  with  strangers.  You  have  to  become 
acquainted  with  them  in  order  to  do  business  in  these  modern  days,  and  if  you  cannot 
get  people  to  traveling  through  the  United  States  from  these  far  countries,  and  espe- 
cially from  the  country  that  I  love,  that  wonderful  country  of  Brazil — if  we  cannot  get 
in  touch  with  them  and  get  directly  and  personally  acquainted  with  them,  we  never 
can  hope  to  get  any  large  percentage  of  their  trade. 

Do  you  know  that  the  facts  show  that  60  per  cent  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  live  within  25  miles  of  a  seaport?  It  is  a  startling  statement,  but  it  is  true. 
If  it  is  not  true,  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor  has  made  a  mistake.  The 
trouble  is  that  we  have  been  so  busy  at  home  that  we  have  not  looked  up  the  matter 
of  our  foreign  trade  as  absolutely  necessary  to  us.  If  it  is  not  necessary  now,  the 
day  is  coming  when  it  will  be  more  than  necessary. 

I  heard  a  lecture  on  Brazil  the  other  night  at  which  a  man  said  that  he 
believed  that  in  the  centuries  of  the  world  the  last  busiest  50  years  were  in  the.  United 
States,  but  he  said  that  he  believed  that  the  next  busiest  50  years  will  be  in  South 
America.  And  do  you  mean  to  say  that  we  can  ignore  a  condition  like  that  and  not 
follow  it  along  intelligent,  connected-up,  logical  lines? 

Now,  then,  the  only  way  to  do  it  is  to  have  the  patriotism  and  the  effort  back 
of  it.  It  is  along  that  line  we  need  to  get  together,  and  it  is  my  intention  to  use  the 
public  exchanges  of  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  and  put  on  a  line  we  own  and 
control,  whose  home  port  will  be  a  dependable  one,  whose  sailing  time  will  be 
dependable  and  certain,  and  that  will  carry  passengers  and  express  matter  and  take 
advantage  of  the  just  and  first-class  shipping  tax  which  I  hope  ultimately  will  be 
passed.  I  thank  you. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  sure  you  all  enjoyed  that.  Let  us  have 
questions  now. 

QUESTION:  How  much  is  the  Mississippi  River  used  in  actual  transportation 
from  the  cities  and  towns  along  the  Mississippi  from  New  Orleans  ? 

MR.  PORCH  :  Well,  I  could  not  give  a  percentage,  but  nothing  in  proportion 
to  the  way  it  should  be.  The  United  States  Steel  Corporation  are  building  steel 
barges  with  the  idea  of  barging  down  the  river  and  carrying  heavy  cargo  back  and 
forth  to  the  gateway.  Ultimately  I  expect  to  see  that  done.  The  freight  rate  now 
prevailing  on  steel  articles  out  of  Pittsburg  is  30  cents.  They  made  public  declara- 
tion in  New  Orleans  they  would  make  steel  rails  14  cents,  a  cut  of  16  points,  or  $3.20 
a  ton,  which  is  a  very  important  item. 

MR.  GRAY  :  I  felt  alone  somewhat  until  my  friend  got  up  and  made  that  speech. 
Would  you  mind  telling  me  just  how  long  you  anticipate  you  would  have  to  run  your 
steamship  line  at  a  loss  before  it  would  be  gotten  on  a  paying  basis  ? 

MR.  PORCH  :  I  am  glad  you  asked  that,  because,  do  you  know,  when  we 
started  to  talk  about  the  line,  in  answer  to  your  question,  there  were  three  commodi- 
ties that  were  offered  that  gave  cargo — staves,  lumber  and  case  oil  to  Brazil. 

,  The  idea  of  this  effort  is  to  put  on  a  line  to  Brazil  and  the  east  coast  of  South 
America  as  soon  as  we  can  get  ready,  as  against  the  day  when  the  canal  is  opened, 
and  with  that  idea  right  before  the  Panama  Commission  we  can  send  the  first 
American  merchantman  through  the  canal,  and  when  she  is  bound  through,  then  say 
to  the  commercial  centers  of  the  world :  "This  is  our  exposition." 

MR.  CHAS.  F.  WILSON,  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  Fitchburg,  Mass. : 
I  want  to  ask  Mr.  Porch  what  is  the  reason  such  an  admirable  speech  as  that  could 
not  be  put  into  a  tract  form  and  circulated  by  the  thousand  and  million,  and  try  and 
convince  some  of  our  people  who  make  the  laws  that  we  need  a  new  law  ? 

MR.  PORCH  :   I  thank  you  very  much  indeed.     I  want  to  say  this 

^DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  We  want  you  to  amplify  the  address,  but  we  can- 
not afford  to  publish  millions  of  copies. 

•MR-  ^°XTH:    We  have  several  people  in  Brazil,  in  South  America,  Central 

America  and  New  Orleans,  and  they  are  going  to  Argentine  also,  and  come  up  the 

side.     The  idea  is  to  make  an  arrangement  by  which  the  man  who  lives  in 

178 


St.  Louis  or  Kansas  City,  or  any  point  on  the  Mississippi  Valley,  cannot  only  ship 
his  material  through  the  means  of  a  direct  line  like  this,  but  he  can  take  a  draft 
and  bill  of  lading  and  go  into  his  bank  and  transact  his  business.  It  is  absolutely 
absurd  to  have  to  pay  to  New  York  for  a  New  York  draft. 

MR.  WILSON  :    It  is  more  absurd  to  pay  it  to  London. 

MR.  GORHAM  :  I  would  like  to  ask  Mr.  Porch  about  the  manning  of  the 
steamers,  obtaining  seamen  and  firemen.  Would  it  be  feasible  to  obtain  them  in 
South  America  ?  The  matter  would  be  this :  I  hope  you  know — I  am  a  Republican, 
living  in  a  Democratic  State,  and  they  all  know  it,  and  therefore  I  am  not  afraid 
to  tell  it  now.  I  hope  that  they  will  revive  the  bill  of  March  3d,  1891,  and  simply  cut 
two  knots  off.  That  is  all  there  is  to  the  Gallinger  bill  over  the  old  bill,  and  give  us 
steamers  of  16  knots  capacity,  and  then  we  will  build  some  steamers.  I  took  this 
project  to  one  of  our  own  shipbuilding  men,  and  you  can  talk  about  the  fact  that 
you  cannot  carry  this  out.  He  said :  "I  will  take  60  per  cent,  of  the  undertaking." 
I  said :  "Put  it  in  writing." 

MR.  LOWE,  of  New  York :  I  would  like  to  ask  as  to  the  subsidy  bill  up  before 
the  House.  I  called  for  a  copy  of  the  bill,  and  the  word  "Trade"  was  stricken  out 
of  the  Gallinger  bill.  The  subsidy  was  to  be  mails,  freight  and  marines,  and  what  we 
want  in  New  York  city  as  exporters  is  cheap  freight  rates  to  South  America,  but 
they  want  a  subsidy  to  carry  mails  and  marines. 

MR.  PORCH  :  I  do  not  care  whether  they  need  mail  or  whether  they  do  not, 
they  are  paying  it  under  the  bill  of  1891,  and  they  are  carrying  the  mail,  and  Mr. 
Gallinger' s  speech  states  that  if  the  Brazilian  line  were  put  on  out  of  the  port  of 
New  York  at  $4.60  it  would  yield  to  that  line  four  hundred  thousand  dollars.  That 
would  enable  us  to  start,  and  without  it  we  could  not.  Of  course,  if  those  ships 
were  built  as  Mississippi  Valley  freight  steamers,  they  would  be  able  to  own  the 
modern  American  lines  with  the  idea  of  being  in  such  a  position  as  to  avail  them- 
selves of  any  ship  subsidy  or  mail  subvention  bill  that  might  be  passed. 

QUESTION:  What  preparations- are  being  made  in  New  Orleans  for  dock- 
age? I  have  never  been  in  New  Orleans. 

MR.  PORCH  :  When  we  went  before  Senator  Burton  for  three  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  to  revet  the  third  district  in  New  Orleans,  he  wanted  to  know  about 
our  public  utility,  and  I  said,  "We  have,  first,  the  public  levees,  and  on  top  of  these 
we  have  public  wharves  that  the  State  own,  an  adequate  public  belt  line  service," 
and  he  said  he  was  very  glad  to  know  that  one  great  seaport  in  the  United  States 
was  conserving  its  franchises  along  the  lines  of  permitting  everybody  to  use  them. 
It  is  a  most  unique  condition  in  any  port  in  the  United  States — in  fact,  I  think  in 
the  world. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :   We  are  very  grateful  to  you,  Mr.  Porch. 

Now,  within  three  or  four  minutes  past  we  have  heard  from  two  very  inter- 
esting men.  I  am  going  to  call  on  Mr.  Fowler,  of  W.  R.  Grace  &  Co.,  who  is  chock 
full  of  stuff  about  export  and  import  trade. 

MR.  FOWLER  :  You  have  taken  me  unawares.  You  promised  us  that  we  should 
get  away  from  here  at  5  o'clock.  You  must  keep  your  own  promise.  Allow  it  to  go 
until  tomorrow  morning. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  Here  is  the  opportunity.  We  have  got  Mr.  Root 
coming  on  tomorrow,  and  others,  and  we  do  not  know  when  we  will  get  through. 
When  we  have  a  man  like  you  we  want  you  right  up  here,  although  I  would  be  only 
too  glad  to  have  you  in  the  morning. 

REMARKS  BY  MR.  J.  F.  FOWLER,  OF  W.  R. 
GRACE  C&  CO.,  NEW  YORK  CITY 

Mr.  FOWLER  said : 

Gentlemen,  I  am  going  to  say  just  a  few  words  to  you  from  the  standpoint  of 
a  merchant  in  the  South  American  trade,  with  first  a  long  experience  at  the  New 
York  end  and  subsequently  a  residence  of  nearly  fifteen  years  on  the  West  Coast  of 
South  America;  primarily  in  the  purchase  of  goods,  and  then,  in  both  Chile  and 
Peru,  in  the  management  of  a  leading  firm  there  especially  devoted  to  the  importa- 
tion of  American  goods.  So  I've  had  ample  experience  in  the  pleasures,  as  also  the 
manifold  troubles,  of  both  the  exporter  here  and  the  importer  there. 

There  is  a  vague  idea  here  that  all  South  America  is  tropical;  that  the  palm- 
leaf  fan  and  the  midday  siesta  are  general  there ;  but  let  me  tell  you  that  my  business 

179 


NICARAGUA 


UKITED  STATES 
1,4-34, 647 


ttKiCAW  UKIOV* 


day  in  Valparaiso  was  just  as  strenuous  and  long,  if  not  even  more  so,  than  in  New 
York,  for  it  is  an  active  center  in  both  cabling,  telegraphing  and  steamship  movements. 
Valparaiso  is  just  about  the  same  distance  south  of  the  equator  as  we  here  in  Wash- 
ington are  north,  and  central  Chile  is  a  veritable  land  of  fruits,  flowers  and  vegetables, 
with  a  glorious  climate  that  is  practically  a  counterpart  of  what  California  enjoys. 
To  the  north  there  is  700  to  800  miles  of  arid  country,  which  depends  upon  the  central 
region  for  all  its  provisions,  and  to  the  south,  at  Punta  Arenas  and  the  Strait  of 
Magellan,  we  find  the  snows  and  ice  of  winter. 

Now,  there  is  no  mystery  in  the  export  trade,  but  I  would  remind  the  manufac- 
turer that  he  must  be  prepared  to  use  more  care,  and  carry  a  little  more  responsibility, 
than  in  our  home  trade. 

We  have  heard  complaints  about  the  rough  finish  of  American  machinery,  of 
which  it  is  pleaded,  however,  that  this  means  no  real  defect  in  efficiency.  I  have  seen 
new  machines  in  which  the  rough  castings  had  been  filled  up  and  then  smoothly 
painted  over,  only  to  have  the  filling  material  knocked  off  by  some  contact  and  the 
machine  then  left  so  scarred  that  it  was  by  no  means  an  easy  seller.  I  quite  appreciate 
the  argument  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  piano-polish  the  off-side  and  non-working  sur- 
faces, but  who  among  you  manufacturers  would  be  content  to  have  a  tailor  send  home 
a  new  coat  with  the  lining  unfinished  arid  accept  his  contention  that  the  coat  would 
nevertheless  look  as  well  externally  and  wear  just  as  well?  You  would  surely  send  it 
back,  and  you  must  not  forget  that  a  customer  would  prefer  to  buy  from  you  a  well- 
finished  machine. 

Do  not  imagine  that  the  consumers  there  make  their  purchases  on  sentiment. 
Price  and  quality  decide  them  regardless  of  nationality  or  origin  of  the  goods.  A 
woman  who  sets  out  to  purchase  a  sewing  machine  does  not  care  whether  it  is  of 
American,  British  or  German  make,  but  strives  to  get  the  most  for  her  money.  When 
you  talk  so  strongly  of  converting  those  people  to  our  American  ideas,  why  don't  you 
begin  by  converting  your  own  wives  and  daughters  to  American  fashions  instead  of 
those  of  Paris? 

We  have  had  considerable  allusion  to  the  packing  of  goods,  in  which  connection 
I  wish  to  say  that  a  wholesale  complaint  against  the  American  manufacturer  is  un- 
merited. But  there  are  exceptions,  and  I  want  to  say  a  few  don'ts  to  you : 

Do  not  use  second-hand  packages.  I  have  seen  such  arrive  alongside  steamers 
at  New  York  and  Brooklyn  in  such  wretched  condition  that  they  are  already  under 
suspicion,  and  no  transportation  company  could  be  expected  to  sign  for  same  as  in 
good  order. 

Do  not  use  old  boxes  which  carry  several  marks.  At  destination  it  is  impossible 
for  the  custom-house  people  to  distinguish  which  mark  is  really  intended. 

Do  not  advertise  on  the  outside  such  articles  as  patent  medicines,  fancy  soaps, 
boots  and  shoes,  leather,  etc.  It  is  a  standing  invitation  to  loot  the  packages. 

Do  not  forget  that  in  the  home  trade  your  shipments  are  always  freighted  at  so 
much  per  100  pounds,  whereas  the  ocean  rates  are  mostly  on  cubic  measurement. 
I  have  seen  too  many  instances  of  fragile  packing,  just  to  save  on  the  gross  weight, 
yet  with  utter  disregard  for  bulkiness,  or  the  many  inevitable  rough  handlings  in 
transit  of  packages,  which  should  be  purposely  designed  for  export. 

Do  not  forget  that  in  most  South  American  ports  the  discharge  from  steamer 
to  open  lighter  and  from  lighter  to  shore  has  to  be  effected  on  rough  seas. 

So  pack  accordingly,  in  which  connection  I  would  remind  you  that  most  Ameri- 
can manufacturers  make  no  open  or  special  charge  for  packing.  Much  better  to  pack 
well  and  charge  fairly  for  it.  The  much-vaunted  packing  of  European  manufacturers 
is  charged  up,  and  often  quite  heavily  so,  but  always  new  packages. 

The  consignee  much  prefers  to  get  his  goods  on  time  and  in  proper  condition. 
Recourse  to  claims  for  pecuniary  damage,  which  are  invariably  disputed,  is  no  satis- 
faction. Better  start  in  by  giving  him  good  service  under  reasonable  charges.  If  any 
claim  arises  it  will  be  the  same,  whether  packing  is  charged  for  or  not. 

As  to  banking  facilities,  do  not  be  afraid.  There  are  certainly  20  banks  in  New 
York  alone  with  open  doors  and  eager  to  afford  you  facilities  if  you  are  worthy. 
Your  drafts  can  be  discounted  at  6  per  cent,  per  annum,  which  is  not  an  unreasonable 
rate,  and  collection  charges  would  vary  from  one-eighth  to  one  per  cent.,  depending 
upon  the  remoteness  of  the  collection  point.  I  don't  think  that  you  can  complain  of 
such  terms  as  an  obstacle  to  export  business.  That  the  handling  of  such  collections 
in  pounds  sterling  means  a  loss  to  you  is  not  true.  If  you  hold  a  bill  of  exchange  for 
£1000  on  London,  the  New  York  bank  stands  ready  to  purchase  same  at  the  current 
rate  of  exchange. 

181 


Turning  to  the  charts  on  the  walls  here,  which  so  graphically  exhibit  the  trade 
of  the  various  countries.  The  Argentine  is  an  example  where  that  country  buys  from 
us  about  three  times  as  much  as  we  purchase  from  her ;  but  Europe  buys  her  produce, 
and  London  thereby  becomes  the  international  clearing-house  under  what  is  practi- 
cally instructions  from  the  Argentine  importer  to  pay  the  American  exporter  the  bal- 
ance due  him.  We  cannot  expect  trade  to  be  wholly  one-sided,  and  at  that  always  in 
our  favor.  At  present  we  buy  nothing  from  South  America  that  we  have  not  got  to 
buy  there. 

I  have  been  astonished  to  hear  such  frequent  assertions  that  we  lack  steamship 
facilities  to  South  America.  A  reference  to  the  advertising  page  of  the  New  York 
Journal  of  Commerce  any  day  of  the  business  year  will  find  30  to  40  steamers  an- 
nounced as  loading,  or  about  to  load,  for  the  whole  range  from  the  Amazon  River 
down  the  East  Coast  and  around  to  the  West  Coast  of  South  America,  and  the  freight 
rates  are  as  low  as  and  frequently  much  lower  than  those  from  Europe.  As  examples 
of  rates  that  ruled  in  1910,  I  would  state  that  steel  and  such  heavy  goods  were  being 
carried  to  Brazilian  ports,  a  distance  of  4000  to  5000  miles,  for  15  cents  per  loc 
pounds  and  upward,  compared  to  which  a  gentleman  in  the  audience  here  has  just 
replied  to  my  question  that  the  rate  on  steel  products  from  Pittsburg  to  New  York  is 
10.5  cents  for  a  distance  of  only  about  500  miles.  Shipments  to  the  River  Plate,  a 
voyage  of  about  6000  miles,  were  carried  at  16  to  20  cents ;  to  Valparaiso,  over  8000 
miles,  for  20  cents,  and  to  Callao,  nearly  10,000  miles,  for  25  cents.  So  I  think  you 
will  realize  that  the  ocean  rates  are  really  very  low  and  quite  competitive  with  Europe. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  want  to  call  particular  attention  to  this,  be- 
•  cause  the  firm  which  Mr.  Fowler  represents  is  perhaps  doing  the  largest  business  of 
any  firm  in  that  part  of  South  America,  and  has  been  for  50  or  60  years — W.  R. 
Grace  &  Co. 

Those  remarks  are  very  valuable. 

I  want  you  to  ask  Mr.  Fowler  a  few  questions,  because  you  can  see  he  is  chock 
full  of  information. 

MR.  WILSON  :  I  want  to  ask  Mr.  Fowler  with  reference  to  the  lighterage  on 
that  coast,  and  comparative  charges  with  the  freight  to  the  same  point. 

MR.  FOWLER:  The  charges  vary  according  to  the  different  ports.  If  you  could 
take  the  port  of  Iquique,  the  steamers  will  discharge  about  three  miles  off  shore, 
where  there  is  nearly  always  a  heavy  sea  running.  The  cost  per  ton  in  that  port 
will  be  more  than  in  the  port  of  Valparaiso,  where  they  do  not  have  so  much  bad 
sea.  Ordinary  grades  of  merchandise  are  handled  at  rather  low  rates,  but  when 
you  get  up  to  dry  goods  and  valuable  goods  where  there  is  more  responsibility  and 
more  care  is  required,  watchmen  have  got  to  be  on  these  lighters  and  the  charges 
are  higher. 

MR.  WILSON  :  About  how  much  is  the  lighterage  per  ton  on  dry  goods  in 
Valparaiso  ? 

MR.  FOWLER:  The  charges  vary  again.  Let  me  explain  to  you.  The  currency 
of  Chile  fluctuates,  and  the  charge  which  six  months  ago  might  have  been  one  thing, 
six  months  later  would  be  another;  the  value  of  the  money  coinage  may  vary  it 
somewhat.  But  I  would  say  the  average  charge  in  Chile  is  about  a  dollar  a  ton. 
It  would  range  from  60  cents  American  gold  per  ton  up. 

MR.  WILSON:  How  much  is  it  at  Antofagasta? 

MR.  FOWLER:  At  Antofagasta  I  would  say  twenty-five  per  cent.  more. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  There  is  one  point  Mr.  Fowler  did  not  bring  out, 
and  that  is  very  interesting  for  this  Conference  to  hear.  Is  it  not  true  that  a  few 
years  ago  great  losses  were  suffered  by  the  bankers  and  by  the  merchants  of  Chile 
on  account  of  exchange  fluctuation? 

MR.  FOWLER:  Yes,  sir. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  And  that  in  spite  of  those  losses  scarcely  a  failure 
occurred  in  the  country;  that  they  met  their  obligations  faithfully  and  honestly  in 
the  face  of  very  adverse  circumstances. 

MR.  FOWLER:  They  did  remarkably  well,  surprisingly  well. 

MR.  WM.  T.  WEST,  of  the  Grosvenor-Dale  Co.,  Providence,  R.  I. :  We  must 
make  an  honest  profit,  and  therefore  necessitate  marking  goods  under  mill  marks, 
and  is  not  that  a  serious  handicap,  and  must  we  continue  or  abandon  it? 

MR.  FOWLER:  Every  day  in  the  week  I  am  buying  both  ways,  mill  marks 
and  private  marks. 

MR.  WEST:  Does  the  mill  mark  interfere  with  our  getting  more  trade? 

MR.  FOWLER  :  No,  sir. 

182 


QUESTION  :  Is  there  no  advertising  value  of  a  lithograph  on  the  outside 
packing  of  the  goods?  I  should  mark  agricultural  machinery;  they  are  not  going 
to  pilfer  that,  and  there  is  no  harm — but  when  it  comes  to  some  of  these  things 
which  are  inviting  to  the  laborer? 

Does  not  the  stencil  or  the  lithograph  acting  as  an  advertisement  more  than 
offset  the  risk  of  loss  ? 

MR.  FOWLER  :  Depending  upon  the  goods. 

QUESTION  :  Mr.  Baker  tells  us  that  the  Germans  very  heavily  subsidize  ships 
on  the  Pacific.  Is  that  getting  in  on  the  west  coast  there  of  South  America  ?  Then, 
if  so,  is  it  against  Americans  ? 

MR.  FOWLER  :  The  Toyo  Kisen  Kaisha,  the  Japanese  line  running  from  Hong- 
kong and  Yokohama  and  San  Francisco,  made  the  experiment  five  years  ago  of 
starting  a  line  to  Peru  and  Chile,  with  departures  about  every  sixty  days.  They 
came  out  almost  empty,  except  for  carrying  some  laborers — they  went  back  nearly 
empty;  but  after  about  a  year  they  began  developing  the  nitrate  oi  soda  trade,  which 
formerly  went  to  Japan  by  sailing  vessels.  Nevertheless,  after  about  a  year's 
struggle,  they  gave  it  up  entirely.  Then  after  about  a  year  and  a  half  they  resumed 
again,  and  are  now  running,  heavily  subsidized  by  the  Japanese  Government,  and 
going  down  as  far  as  Valparaiso,  with  departures  about  every  two  months.  The 
home  cargo  was  almost  entirely  nitrate  of  soda,  and  from  Peru,  sugar. 

MR.  WILSON  :  Do  you  know  how  heavily  subsidized  that  line  is  ? 

MR.  FOWLER  :  I  would  not  like  to  'say  positively,  but  I  think  they  have  some- 
thing like  thirty  thousand  pounds  sterling  in  a  year. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  Thank  you.  This  is  very  interesting.  Mr.  Fowler 
will  be  glad  to  answer  any  questions  which  may  be  asked  him. 

I  am  going  to  call  on  Mr.  Bunker  of  San  Francisco.  We  heard  from  Mr. 
Porch  of  New  Orleans.  This  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  exposition.  I  called  Mr. 
Porch  because  he  is  a  great  authority  on  matters  down  there,  and  that  was  not  in 
my  mind  at  all,  and  Mr.  Bunker  has  been  the  representative  of  the  San  Francisco 
Chamber  of  Commerce  here  a  long  time  in  Washington,  and  has  traveled  around 
the  world  and  has  made  a  point  of  favoring  us  here. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  WILLIAM  M.  BUNKER,  OF  THE  CHAMBER 
OF  COMMERCE  OF  SAN  FRANCISCO 

Mr.  BUNKER  said: 

Director  General  and  Relegates  to  the  Pan  American  Commercial  Conference: 
As  the  representative  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  San  Francisco,  I  am  pleased 
and  proud  to  find  myself  in  such  admirable  and  informing  company.  In  intelligence 
and  integrity  of  purpose  this  gathering  surpasses  any  previous  similar  assembly  I 
have  ever  known.  With  all  due  respect  to  the  prescience  of  the  Director  General 
of  the  Pan  American  Union,  I  think  that  in  laying  the  foundation  for  this  wholesale 
exchange  of  commercial  ideas  he  built  better  than  he  knew.  You  have  considered 
and  are  considering  the  Panama  Canal  in  detail  and  from  the  points  of  view  of 
your  respective  regions.  My  purpose  is  to  indicate  the  scope  of  the  Panama  Canal 
from  the  world  viewpoint. 

The  Panama  Canal  is  an  American  triumph.  In  a  broad  sense  it  is  a  Pan 
American  triumph.  The  sympathy  and  support  of  Latin  America  have  counted  for 
much  in  canal  construction.  The  opening  of  the  canal  will  be  a  world  event.  The 
world  view  is  in  every  angle  of  canal  approach.  Therefore,  every  canal  issue  con- 
cerns the  world.  He  who  would  have  a  wide  horizon  must  bear  these  facts  in 
mind.  The  first  canal  idea  was  based  on  the  European  need  of  a  short  cut  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific — simply  this  and  nothing  more.  Today  the  whole  world 
needs  and  will  use  the  canal.  I  say  this  after  having  rounded  the  world  twice 
and  after  having  studied  trade  currents  in  the  highways  and  the  byways. 

For  years,  and  until  recently,  it  was  thought  by  many  that  trade  and  transpor- 
tation in  the  zone  between  and  including  Hongkong  and  Suez — a  zone  over  6400 
miles  wide — would  not  be  affected  by  the  Panama  Canal.  This  because  the  dis- 
tances from  Calcutta,  Bombay  and  Singapore  to  New  York  are  respectively  shorter 
from  4500  to  7000  miles  by  the  Suez  than  by  the  Panama  route;  and  also  for  the 
reason  that  the  distance  from  Hongkong  via  Yokohama  and  the  Panama  Canal  is 
only  378  miles  shorter  than  by  the  Suez  route.  With  a  distance  of  only  378  miles 
involved  in  a  passage  of  11,580  miles,  it  did  not  seem  likely  that  a  strong  current 

183 


of  trade  would  be  deflected  from  its  old  and  fixed  course.  Looking  at  the  tables  of 
comparative  distances  there  seems  to  be  no  temptation  for  steamers  to  use  the 
Panama  Canal  in  passing  between  New  York  and  the  ports  of  Calcutta,  Bombay 
and  Singapore. 

By  the  Suez  Canal  Panama  Canal  In  favor  of          In  favor  of 

via  Yokahama  Suez  Canal        Panama  Canal 

Miles  Miles  Miles                     Miles 

Hongkong  to  New  York..   11,580  11,226  318 

Calcutta  to  New  York....     9-795  H.332  4,537 

Bombay  to  New  York. ...     8,153  15,152  6,999 

Singapore  to  New  York. .    10,141  12,702  2,561 

When  you  grasp  the  fact  that  the  passage  from  Bombay,  India,  to  the  port 
of  New  York  by  trie  Suez  Canal  is  practically  7000  miles  shorter  than  by  the  Pan- 
ama Canal,  you  naturally  think  no  more  of  India  in  connection  with  the  Panama 
Canal.  But  there  is  another  thought  due  you.  The  canal  is  for  the  world  and  the 
world  is  bound  to  use  it.  And  remote  India  is  of  the  world.  And  so  are  Colombo, 
the  Straits  Settlements  and  other  equally  remote  countries.  Commercially,  these 
countries  are  very  much  of  the  world. 

I  have  shown  the  remoteness  of  India  from  the  Panama  Canal  and  that  with 
practically  7000  miles  in  its  favor  in  the  passage  from  Bombay  to  New  York  the 
Suez  Canal  would  naturally  be  assumed  to  have  an  enduring  preference  over  the 
Panama  Canal.  Such  is  not  really  the  case.  In  the  final  reckoning  the  canal  toll 
will  determine  the  currents  of  transportation  and  will  affect  the  current  of  trade. 
While  at  Delhi,  Northern  India,  a  few  months  since,  I  met  a  merchant  of  Amritzar, 
a  city  of  162,000  people,  317  miles  North  of  Delhi.  It  is  the  center  of  the  Kashmir 
shawl  industry  and  the  rate-making  base  for  goatskins.  As  India  is  one  of  the 
largest,  if  not  the  largest,  exporters  of  goatskins,  the  commercial  importance  of 
Amritzar  will  be  readily  understood.  Amiritzar  is  the  rendezvous  for  traders  from 
Afghanistan,  Persia,  Tibet  and  other  countries  of  Central  Asia.  The  Amritzar 
merchant  introduced  the  subject  of  the  Panama  Canal  and  \vas  eager  for  facts  and 
figures.  He  said  that  in  common  with  other  East  Indian  merchants  he  was  watch- 
ing canal  work.  The  merchants  hoped  to  increase  their  trade  with  the  Americas 
through  the  use  of  the  new  canal.  One  of  his  own  lines,  goatskins,  was  likely  to  be 
affected  by  this  new  route.  Ninety  per  cent,  of  the  goatskins  produced  in  India 
are  shipped  to  Boston,  where  they  are  used  by  the  shoe  factories  of  New  England. 
The  skins  are  now  sent  via  the  Suez  Canal.  Favoring  charges  by  the  Panama  Canal 
would  increase  the  trade  in  this  and  other  commodities. 

While  the  Latin  America  product  will  have  a  new  influence  on  this  skin  trade, 
the  significance  of  the  East  Indian  incident  is  worth  considering.  If  it  be  true  that 
the  human  race  was  born  in  the  Himalayas,  the  canal  traffic  will  rock  the  cradle  of 
the  world.  What  the  canal  may  do  for  Central  Asia  is  a  trifle  compared  with  what 
it  will  surely  do  for  those  regions  on  the  Pacific  shores  of  the  Americas  that  are 
today  in  a  state  of  arrested  development.  Latin  American  valleys  and  mountain 
slopes,  rich  in  natural  resources,  yet  today  debarred  by  economic  reasons  from  shar- 
ing the  progress  of  the  world,  will  certainly  be  brought  into  favoring  prominence 
through  the  new  transportation  facilities  furnished  by  the  canal.  To  fulfil  its  destiny 
the  canal  must  and  will  bring  the  American  flag  into  your  waters  on  American  ships. 

In  view  of  the  world  interest  in  the  canal,  in  view  of  the  supreme  interests  of 
the  Americas  in  this  oceanic  waterway,  the  canal  toll  is  a  pressing  issue.  While 
Section  6  of  the  measure  now  before  Congress  authorizes  the  President  to  fix  the 
canal  charge  on  registered  tonnage  at  from  fifty  cents  to  one  dollar  and  a  half  per 
net  ton,  American  measurement,  we  may  assume  that  the  President  will  at  first  fix 
the  charge  of  one  dollar  per  net  ton. 

The  one  dollar  rate  is  much  lower  than  the  present  Suez  toll. 

The  charges  of  the  two  canals  in  the  event  of  the  passage  of  the  measure  will 
make  this  comparative  showing : 

Sues  Canal  Charge. 

Per  net  ton  of  60  cubic  feet  (as  per  Danube  measurement) $1.75 

The  Danube  measurement  ton   is   practically  five-eighths   of   an 
American  measurement  ton. 

184 


Proposed  Panama  Canal  Charge. 

Per  net  ton  of  100  cubic  feet $1.00 

This   charge   is  based   on   registered   tonnage,   as   in   the   case   of 
the  charge  made  by  Suez. 

The  question  of  canal  toll  is  obviously  pressing.  All  kinds  of  enterprises  in 
nearly  all  parts  of  the  world  are  today  being  considered  with  respect  to  the  canal. 
The  authorities  are  receiving  many  commercial  inquiries  regarding  canal  prospects, 
plans  and  charges.  First  and  foremost  in  number  and  importance  are  the  inquiries 
about  charges.  In  many  instances  the  demand  for  information  is  from  steamship 
owners  who  must  have  at  least  eighteen  months  advance  notice  of  the  canal  opening 
in  order  to  safely  and  sanely  plan  their  inter-oceanic  transportation  ventures. 

The  greater  the  tonnage  through  the  canal  the  more  numerous  and  varied  the 
transportation  facilities  for  those  portions  of  the  Americas  reasonably  near  the  zone. 
The  influence  of  such  facilities  is  not  an  asset  of  the  countries  about  the  Suez 
Canal  for  the  reason  that  those  countries  are  usually  barren  and  barbarous.  In  this 
favorable  contrast  we  see  another  reason  for  the  largest  and  speediest  use  of  the 
Panama  Canal.  And  let  us  not  forget  that  in  our  common,  direct  interest  in  the 
canal  we  see  the  necessity  of  close  and  cordial  co-operation  by  the  people  of  the 
Americas.  If  I  had  almost  said  peoples  it  is  because  I  had  forgotten  that  by  a  strange 
paradox  the  canal  that  severs  the  strip  .connecting  North  and  South  America  really 
brings  the  Americas  into  closer  communion  and  will  keep  ever  fresh  a  mutually 
beneficial  friendship.  But  yesterday  we  were  peoples.  Today  we  are  people.  The 
canal  blends  into  a  common  whole  our  hopes,  our  aspirations  and  our  moral  and 
material  interests. 

As  a  logical  sequence  to  the  opening  of  the  canal  the  American  flag  will 
float  over  vessels  carrying  American  freight.  The  nation  will  have  such  a  humiliat- 
ing object  lesson  in  the  canal  procession  of  foreign  ships  that  the  people  through 
very  shame  will  insist  on  the  creation  of  an  American  fleet  of  off-shore  steamers. 

Between  San  Francisco  and  New  York  the  Panama  Canal  shortens  the  ocean 
passage  7784  miles.  These  are  eloquent  figures.  But  there  are  others.  The  saving 
to  San  Francisco  on  the  passage  to  European  ports  will  be : 

San  Francisco  to  Liverpool 5,66o  miles 

San  Francisco  to  Naples 4,888  miles 

San  Francisco  to  Hamburg 5,494  miles 

Naturally  foreign  nations  associate  San  Francisco  with  the  canal.  The  im- 
pression has  long  prevailed  that  San  Francisco  would  necessarily  rank  as  the  canal 
city  of  the  Pacific.  A  popular  impression  is  as  potent  as  a  fact.  All  nations  know 
San  Francisco  and  California,  and  all  associate  them  with  the  canal.  Excepting  New 
York,  no  other  American  city  is  as  well  known  abroad  as  San  Francisco.  Therefore, 
no  other  city  has  the  same  publicity  value.  This  publicity  was  born  to  live.  It  was 
achieved  through  the  romantic  golden  era,  through  the  scenic  attractions  of  Cali- 
fornia, through  the  amazing  products  of  the  state,  and  finally  through  the  partial 
destruction  and  the  heroic  restoration  of  the  city.  In  three  days  of  April,  1906,  San 
Francisco  unwillingly  invested  several  hundred  million  dollars  in  a  fire  that  in  a 
publicity  sense  illuminated  the  world.  In  the  following  four  years  the  city  invested 
several  hundred  million  dollars  in  reconstruction  and  betterments.  It  cost  several 
hundred  million  dollars  to  suddenly  arrest  the  attention  of  the  world.  It  has  cost 
several  hundred  millions  to  hold  that  attention.  Whatever  the  circumstances  attend- 
ing and  following  the  April  disaster,  the  city  became  the  best  advertised  place  on 
the  globe.  The  San  Franciscans  eclipsed  the  world  record  for  local  improvement. 
They  set  a  new  pace  for  human  endeavor.  They  standardized  sentiment.  Praised 
by  the  practical  people  of  every  country,  they  also  caught  the  popular  fancy.  Their 
work  was  watched  not  alone  by  the  Americans  and  foreign  business  men,  but  by  the 
countless  millions  who  have  no  interest  in  trade,  commerce  or  construction  and  who 
are  simply  known  as  the  masses.  These  people,  one  and  all,  are  naturally  eager  to 
see  the  city  that  stands  on  the  site  of  the  city  that  was.  The  seventeen-and-one-half- 
million-dollar  guarantee  that  the  Panama  Pacific  International  Exposition  will  be 
properly  financed  abundantly  testifies  to  the  ability  and  the  sincerity  of  the  San 
Franciscans.  But  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  addition  to  this  guarantee,  and 
aside  from  the  ample  housing  facilities  of  the  city,  aside  from  the  climatic  ad- 

185 


vantages,  aside  from  the  contributing  attractions  of  the  Yosemite,  the  Big  Trees, 
the  red  wood  forests,  the  picturesque  mountains  and  the  rich  and  inviting  valleys  of 
the  State,  San  Francisco  enjoys  the  measureless  advantages  of  a  billion-dollar  in- 
vestment in  publicity. 

The  brilliant,  beautiful,  record-breaking  reconstruction  of  the  city  was  due  in 
part  to  the  pluck  and  intelligence  of  the  people.  The  fourth  commercial  city  in  the 
United  States,  according  to  the  custom  house  statistics  for  1910,  with  annual  bank 
clearing  exceed  two  billion  three  hundred  million  dollars,  the  city  was,  of  course, 
equipped  for  its  great  work.  That  goes  without  saying.  To  do  this  work  quickly, 
artistically  and  substantially  called  for  qualities  of  the  highest  order.  It  was  not 
merely  the  pluck,  perseverance  and  pecuniary  power  of  San  Francisco  that  proved 
so  potential.  While  these  qualities  were  essential,  two  others  were  equally  indis- 
pensable: Intelligence  and  taste.  These  were  words  to  conjure  with.  The  splendid 
solidarity  of  San  Francisco  counted  for  much,  but  that  was  not  all.  For  years  every 
great  art  center  has  had  its  California  colony,  a  group  of  men  and  women,  usually 
graduates  of  local  schools,  colleges  or  art  institutes,  studying  the  liberal  arts  to 
practical  purpose.  These  students,  these  men  and  women  have  elevated  the  artistic 
taste  of  the  community.  Hence  the  elegance  of  the  restored  city.  Hence  the  beauty 
of  the  new  buildings.  Hence  the  tributes  to  local  architecture  from  the  architects 
and  architectural  organizations  of  the  leading  countries  of  the  world. 

In  creating  and  conducting  the  Panama  Pacific  Exposition  San  Francisco  will 
utilize  the  pluck,  perseverance,  intelligence,  high  ideals  and  artistic  taste  already 
shown  in  reconstruction  enterprises.  The  San  Franciscans  will  again  stir  national 
pride  and  astonish  the  world.  And  finally  they  will  interest  and  entertain  the  visitors 
already  familiar  with  the  fascinating  history  of  the  city  and  who  simply  await  the 
Exposition  call.  Among  the  most  welcome  visitors  will  be  those  from  the  Latin 
republics.  Among  the  most  important  subjects  discussed  by  the  various  congresses 
will  be  the  influence  of  the  Panama  Canal.  And  assuredly  among  the  beneficiaries 
of  the  broad  and  comprehensive  discussions  none  will  outrank  the  people  of  Latin 
America. 

Californians  count  on  the  most  intimate  relations  with  their  Southern  neigh- 
bors. These  relations  are  insured  by  the  added  transportation  facilities  that  will  stimu- 
late nearly  every  form  of  agriculture  and  industry  in  Latin  America.  The  Panama 
Pacific  Exposition  will,  in  a  sense,  be  a  Pan  American  Exposition.  It  must  be  this 
to  have  the  proper  canal  coloring.  You  of  Latin  America  will  have  an  opportunity 
to  mirror  your  products  to  the  assembled  millions  and  gather  the  fruits  of  a  world- 
wide publicity.  You  will  be  able  to  see  that  the  trade  interests  of  your  respective 
countries  and  those  of  the  United  States,  and  all  the  dominating  interests  of  the 
two  Americas  have  a  common  cause  in  all  that  makes  for  peace,  progress  and 
prosperity. 


J86 


FRIDAY  FEBRUARY  17— MORNING  SESSION 

The  Conference  was  called  to  order  at  9.45  o'clock  A.  M.  by  the  Director 
General. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  This  morning  the  exigencies  of  the  situation 
require  that  we  should  call  on  Doctor  Rowe  early.  He  has  to  appear  before  the  Pan 
American  Committee  of  the  United  States  a  little  later  in  the  morning,  and  he  has 
therefore  consented  to  come  on  at  this  point  of  the  program. 

I  have  great  pleasure  in  introducing  Doctor  Rowe.  Doctor  Rowe  was  chair- 
man of  the  United  States  delegation  to  the  Pan  American  Scientific  Congress  in 
Santiago,  a  member  of  the  United  States  delegation  to  the  Rio  de  Janeiro  Confer- 
ence, and  has  made  a  very  careful  study  of  Latin  American  affairs  in  all  parts  of 
Latin  America  from  Mexico  and  Cuba  south  to  Argentina  and  Chile.  We  are  very 
fortunate  in  having  him  here  this  morning. 

ADDRESS  OF  DR.  L.  S.  ROWE,  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

Doctor  ROWE  said : 

Mr.  Director  General,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  may  say,  by  way  of  preface, 
that  I  refrained  from  expressing  any  opinion  on  our  trade  relations  with  Latin 
America  until  I  had  resided  for  a  period  of  five  years  in  different  Latin  American 
countries  and  until  I  had  completed  two  extended  tours  through  the  countries  of 
South  America,  one  covering  a  period  of  one  and  a  half  years  and  the  other  covering 
a  period  of  eleven  months.  I  then  ventured  some  comment  on  the  methods  of 
American  manufacturers  in  attempting  to  secure  a  hold  on  the  Latin  American 
markets,  and  I  was  rather  surprised  at  their  sensitiveness  at  the  statement  of  facts 
which  are  evident  to  anyone  after  a  few  weeks'  stay  in  a  Latin  American  country.  I 
began  to  feel  not  only  that  the  American  manufacturer  did  not  appreciate  the 
methods  that  have  to  be  pursued  in  those  countries,  but  that  he  did  not  appreciate 
the  vastness  of  the  field,  the  vastness  of  the  opportunity  which  these  countries 
present.  It  has  probably  been  pointed  out  to  you  in  the  course  of  these  sessions 
that  there  is  a  marked,  a  fundamental,  difference  between  the  Latin  American  mar- 
kets and  the  much-vaunted  markets  of  the  far  East. 

It  is  evident  to  everyone  who  studies  the  far  East  that  it  is  only  a  question 
of  time,  a  question  of  comparatively  short  time,  when  the  cheaper  labor  and  the 
cheaper  means  of  production,  the  marvelous  imitative  power  of  the  far  Eastern 
peoples,  will  supplant  the  Western  products,  enabling  them  to  produce  much  of  that 
which  we  produce  at  a  lower  cost.  That  has  been  our  experience  in  Japan ;  that  is 
going  to  be  our  experience  in  China,  for  all  these  countries  present  the  requisites 
for  a  vigorous  industrial  development.  For  many  years  to  come  most  of  the  Latin 
American  countries  will  be  primarily  agricultural.  Few  of  them  present  the  con- 
ditions necessary  for  great  industrial  development,  and  they  therefore  offer  to  the 
American  manufacturer  not  only  a  large  present  field,  but  a  permanent  field  and 
one  of  growing  opportunity.  It  is  therefore  worth  our  while  to  make  a  temporary 
sacrifice,  if  such  sacrifice  be  necessary,  in  order  to  acquire  a  hold  on  this  market. 
To  effect  this  purpose,  however,  it  is  not  sufficient  that  our  products  be  better  or 
that  they  be  offered  at  a  lower  price.  The  Latin  American  trade  is  not  to  be  secured 
merely  by  saying  to  them,  "We  have  a  product  which  we  consider  better  than  the 
French  or  German  or  the  Belgian,"  or  "We  have  a  product  that  we  can  offer  at  a 
lower  price."  The  market  must  be  carefully  and  systematically  canvassed  through 
a  serious  and  sincere  attempt  to  understand  the  peculiar  wants  of  the  people  of 
these  countries. 

There  has  been  a  great  deal  of  criticism  of  the  American  manufacturer,  and 
much  of  that  criticism  is  justified.  I  yield  to  no  one  in  my  admiration  of  the  enter- 
prise, the  energy,  the  initiative  of  the  American  manufacturer.  But  it  is  also  true 
that  when  you  meet  him  in  Latin  American  countries  he  seems  to  show  a  helpless- 
ness and  lack  of  perspective  which  is  in  marked  contrast  with  his  methods  at  home. 

187 


It  is  true,  and,  whatever  we  may  say  to  the  contrary,  I  do  not  believe  we  can  escape 
the  fact  that  in  most  cases  we  do  not  produce  exactly  the  kind  of  thing  which  they 
want,  and  if  we  do  produce  it  we  are  not  willing  to  let  them  have  it  on  the  same 
conditions  that  other  countries  offer. 

My  first  plea,  therefore,  is  for  greater  adaptability,  for  a  perspective  that  will 
embrace  the  next  twenty-five  years,  and  will  enable  the  manufacturer  to  picture  to 
himself  what  these  great  countries  will  offer  to  him  in  the  near  future.  It  is  not 
a  question  of  procuring  a  profit  this  year  alone ;  it  is  a  question  of  laying  the  founda- 
tions for  trade  opportunities  which,  within  a  comparatively  short  time,  will  outrival 
those  of  any  other  section  of  the  world. 

We  need  not  concern  ourselves  very  seriously  with  reference  to  the  pur- 
chases that  we  are  to  make  from  these  countries,  because  in  many  cases  those  pur- 
chases are  increasing  and  will  increase  with  each  year.  We  take  from  Brazil  the 
greater  portion  of  her  coffee ;  as  our  agriculture  becomes  more  intensive,  we  will 
take  from  Chile  an  increasing  amount  of  her  nitrates.  We  will  take  from  Peru  each 
year  an  increasing  proportion  of  her  great  mineral  products,  and  thus  to  every  Latin 
American  country  we  will  be  an  increasingly  important  customer.  Even  in  the 
Argentine  Republic,  where  there  has  been  great  complaint  of  our  failure  to  take  her 
wool  and  her  hides,  our  purchases  are  increasing,  and  will  undoubtedly  continue  to 
do  so,  especially  when  we  get  to  a  point  where  we  must  import  meat  from  the 
Argentine  Republic  and  when  the  Argentine  will  become  the  great  grazing  country 
of  the  American  continent.  Therefore,  so  far  as  that  phase  of  our  relations  is  con- 
cerned, we  need  not  have  any  fear.  The  situation  at  the  present  time  rests  in  the 
hands  of  the  American  manufacturer.  It  is  a  question  whether  he  wants  it  or 
whether  he  does  not  want  it ;  not  whether  he  wants  it  in  1912  and  does  not  care  for 
it  in  1913,  but  whether  he  wants  it  in  1912,  in  1913,  in  1914,  and  so  on  to  the  end 
of  the  century.  If  he  does  want  it,  and  if  there  is  that  set  and  determined  purpose 
to  get  a  real  hold  on  the  great  purchasing  power  of  these  countries,  he  must  study 
their  needs,  he  must  be  prepared  to  meet  the  competition  of  his  European  rivals,  and 
he  must  treat  the  Latin  American  consumers  with  the  same  consideration — yes,  with 
even  greater  consideration  than  he  treats  the  consumer  in  our  own  country. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  Following  our  usual  method,  I  would  invite  the 
audience  to  ask  any  questions  of  Doctor  Rowe.  It  has  been  our  custom  after  each 
address,  where  the  speaker  could  remain,  to  allow  him  to  be  asked  questions  by  the 
members  of  the  Conference.  We  have  here  many  representative  men  of  the  great 
manufacturing,  exporting  and  importing  firms  of  the  country  that  may  like  to  ask 
some  questions. 

DOCTOR  ROWE  :    I  will  be  glad  to  answer  any  questions. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  Would  anyone  like  to  ask  any  questions  of  Doc- 
tor Rowe,  who  has  traveled  very  extensively? 

QUESTIONER:  I  have  a  question  I  would  like  to  ask  which  involves  a  point 
of  law.  In  appointing  dealers  to  Latin  America,  is  it  necessary  to  hold  them  forth 
as  accredited  representatives  of  manufacturers?  Certain  manufacturers  have  con- 
sidered the  advisability  or  inadvisability  of  terming  them  "agents"  where  they  are 
not,  but  merely  selling  representatives.  The  Spanish  language  does  not  lend  itself 
so  easily  to  the  term  "dealer"  as  does  the  English  language — does  not  carry  the  same 
strength  with  it,  and  the  opinion  is,  of  some  of  those  manufacturers,  that  it  is 
necessary  to  use  the  term  agent  in  order  that  they  shall  have  the  proper  strength 
in  dealing  with  their  people.  The  question  arises  as  to  just  what  responsibility  a 
manufacturer  would  incur,  how  far  he  would  be  holding  him  forth  to  the  people  of 
the  country  of  which  he  acts  as  a  general  agent,  authorized  to  act  broadly  for  him 
and  bind  him  to  the  conditions  to  which  he  perhaps  would  not  be  willing  to  be 
bound  other  than  those  of  merely  a  sales  agent. 

DR.  ROWE  :  I  am  not  sure  whether  I  got  the  exact  nature  of  the  question,  but 
I  may  say  with  reference  to  the  matter  of  agency,  our  manufacturers  and  some  of 
our  merchants  have  shown  comparatively  little  judgment  in  the  selection  of  their 
agents.  For  instance,  I  found  in  one  of  the  countries  that  a  great  publishing  concern 
had  as  their  agent  a  firm  that  was  selling  rope,  pig-iron  and  a  number  of  other 
products  that  had  no  relation  to  educational  matters.  They  had  at  one  time  a  con- 
siderable hold  upon  the  textbooks  of  Latin  America.  They  have  lost  it  almost  com- 
pletely, and  it  has  been  secured  by  Spanish  houses  that  have  established  close  relations 
with  large  native  book-selling  agencies.  I  have  another  instance  of  one  of  the 
greatest  firms  in  the  United  States  which  made  an  arrangement  with  a  British  com- 
mission house  to  handle  their  product.  This  house  was  also  the  agent  for  English 

188 


concerns  and  manufacturers  in  exactly  the  same  line,  and  the  result  was  that  the 
American  concern  failed  to  secure  anything  like  the  proportion  of  business  to  which 
the  excellence  of  their  product  entitled  them. 

QUESTION  :  In  my  efforts  to  be  general,  I  fear  I  have  not  carried  the  point 
definitely — an  agent  representing  directly  as  an  agent ;  in  other  words,  the  branch 
of  the  company,  naturally  his  act  binds  that  company  as  a  full  representative.  But 
suppose  a  sales  agent  were  to  make  a  lease  for  a  term  of  years  much  longer  than 
expected,  or  would  make  a  contract  with  an  employe  extending  over  a  number  of 
years.  It  is  those  things  that  the  manufacturer  fears  in  using  the  term  "agent" 
where  he  is  really  employing  nothing  more  than  a  dealer.  That  is  the  point. 

DOCTOR  ROWE  :  There  need  be  no  fear  on  this  point,  provided  there  is  a  clearly 
defined  contract  between  the  commission  merchant  and  the  manufacturer. 

DR.  WILSON:  I  would  like  to  ask  Doctor  Rowe  a  question  with  just  a  little 
explanation.  In  the  different  South  American  republics,  Pan  America,  with  refer- 
ence to  the  school  system,  leading  up  to  the  universities,  what  are  the  conditions? 

DOCTOR  ROWE:  The  educational  influences  in  the  countries  of  Latin  America 
have  been  exceedingly  diverse.  In  higher  education  French  influence  is  still  domi- 
nant. For  instance,  in  Mexico  and  the  Argentine  Republic  French  textbooks  and 
treatises  are  more  widely  used  than  Spanish.  In  secondary  education  the  influences 
have  been  equally  diverse.  French  influence  has  been  very  powerful,  and  in  Chile 
German  influence  has  determined  the  organization  and  curriculum  of  secondary 
instruction.  In  the  Argentine  Republic,  Chile  and  Peru  American  influence  has  been 
steadily  growing.  The  earliest  normal  school  in  the  Argentine  Republic  was  organ- 
ized by  American  teachers,  and  recently  American  teachers  were  engaged  in  Chile 
to  conduct  two  of  the  normal  schools.  In  Peru  an  American  has  reorganized  the 
system  of  primary  education,  and  at  the  present  time  an  American  is  head  of  the 
University  of  Cuzco. 

DR.  WM.  O.  MCDOWELL,  of  New  York  City:  The  question  I  wish  to  ask  is 
this :  In  the  matter  of  credits  throughout  the  United  States,  they  are  largely  based 
upon  the  fact  that  our  banks  discount  paper  never  running  longer  than  six  months — 
our  national  banks — and  in  order  that  the  American  manufacturer  and  merchant  can 
handle  his  enormous  business  it  becomes  necessary  that  he  shall  have  acceptable 
paper  which  banks  discount  to  loan  upon.  The  question  I  ask  is,  Is  there  any  dif- 
ficulty whatever  in  settling  that  point  in  sales  to  South  America,  the  issue  by  those 
houses  of  large  credits  for  the  goods  when  received  by  return  mail  and  accepted 
payable  in  New  York,  London  or  Paris,  wherever  the  financial  center  is  most  available 
for  the  handling  of  that  business  shall  be  situated?  There  is  this  one  very  serious 
difficulty,  that  that  requirement  is  not  enforced  by  the  British  and  by  the  French 
houses,  because  the  situation  in  many  of  the  countries  is  that  the  British  houses  really 
carry  these  small  houses  for  an  indefinite  period. 

Does  not  that  result  in  the  building  up  of  very  strong  financial  houses  in  Lon- 
don and  Paris  who  buy  very  largely  in  this  market,  meet  the  drafts  by  paying  cash 
for  the  goods,  and  then  taking  care  of  the  drafts,  and  in  doing  that  make  enormous 
profits  out  of  American  goods? 

DR.  ROWE:     I  think  that  is  correct. 

MR.  ENRIGHT:  I  have  information  that  a  certain  very  large  bank  in  this  coun- 
try is  already  making  arrangements  whereby  they  can  discount  commercial  Buenos 
Aires  or  any  other  paper,  and  rediscount  it  down  there,  which  would  obviate  that 
matter  of  carrying  credit  a  long  time.  Arrangements,  I  believe,  are  progressing  now, 
and  in  a  very  short  time  they  will  be  available  to  the  American  manufacturer. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  will  conclude  that  discussion.  I  have  just 
received  word  that  Mr.  Root  is  leaving  his  house  and  will  be  here  in  a  few  moments. 
Upon  his  arrival  I  am  going  to  give  you  the  great  pleasure  of  listening  to  a  man 
whose  own  experience,  first  as  Secretary  of  the  Embassy  in  London,  later  as  Ambas- 
sador in  Paris  and  representative  of  the  United  States  in  the  Buenos  Aires  Confer- 
ence, and  then  finally  as  the  Chairman  of  the  United  States  Delegation  to  the  Pan 
American  Conference  in  Buenos  Aires  this  last  summer  is  well  known  to  Americans 
and  to  people  the  world  over.  Mr.  White,  as  chairman  of  our  delegation,  was  most 
cordially  welcomed  in  his  visit  to  Latin  America.  He  went  also  to  Chile  as  the  spe- 
cial plenipotentiary  at  the  celebration  of  the  anniversary  of  their  independence,  and 
he  comes  back  here,  after  being  absent,  on  purpose  to  address  you  this  morning.  I 
have  great  pleasure  in  introducing  Mr.  Henry  White. 

189 


PANAMA0 

-    ISO©  - 


UNITED  STATES 
#4,096,62,6 


TAWAMtTRlCAKUHlOX 
W«»X.D.C. 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  HENRY  WHITE,  CHAIRMAN  OF  THE 

UNITED  STATES  DELEGATION  TO  THE  FOURTH 

PAN  AMERICAN  CONFERENCE 

Mr.  WHITE  said : 

Gentlemen:  It  is  with  the  greatest  pleasure  that  I  have  been  able  to  come  here 
today  and  say  a  few  words  to  the  members  of  this  Conference  relative  to  the  further- 
ance of  our  relations  with  the  other  Republics  of  this  hemisphere.  I  only  regret  that 
I  was  unable,  owing  to  previous  engagements  elsewhere,  to  be  at  your  opening  ses- 
sion on  Monday  last,  and  to  join  you  in  the  applause  which  greeted  the  President,  the 
Secretary  of  State  and  the  Speaker-elect,  who,  respectively,  advocated  reciprocity  be- 
tween those  countries  and  our  own.  1  earnestly  hope  that  this  suggestion  may  become 
a  reality  at  no  distant  date,  as  I  can  imagine  nothing  more  conducive  to  the  attain- 
ment of  the  objects  which  this  Conference  has  in  view. 

The  promotion  of  friendship  and  closer  relations  with  Latin  America  is  not 
a  new  subject  to  me.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  one,  the  vast  importance  of  which  to  our 
interests  and  to  those  of  the  countries  in  question  I  have  long  realized.  And  its 
importance  will  be  immeasurably  enhanced  with  the  opening  of  the  Panama  Canal. 
For  years  past  I  have  availed  myself  of  every  opportunity  to  cultivate  the  friendship 
of  the  diplomatic  representatives  accredited  from  the  other  American  Republics  to 
the  country  in  which  1  happened  for  the  time  being  to  represent  the  United  States, 
and  to  make  them  feel  that  they  shared  with  me  the  honor  of  representing  America  as 
a  whole.  The  result  of  this  was  not  only  the  creation  of  a  strong  feeling  of  American 
solidarity  among  us  all,  the  moral  effect  of  which  was  beneficial  to  our  respective 
interests  in  the  particular  foreign  country  to  which  we  were  accredited,  but  it  also 
enabled  me  to  realize  how  earnestly  all  the  best  elements  in  the  different  countries  of 
Latin  America  desires  closer  relations  with  the  United  States,  and  the  chief  obstacles 
which  exist  to  the  complete  realization  of  that  desire. 

It  is  deeply  to  be  regretted  those  vast  fields  for  lucrative  investment  to  the 
south  of  us — particularly  in  the  far  south — have  hitherto  unfortunately  attracted 
little  or  no  attention  among  our  own  people,  and  it  is  a  source  of  delight  and  satisfac- 
tion to  me  which  I  can  but  inadequately  express,  to  realize  that  at  last  we  have  begun 
to  turn  our  attention,  as  a  nation,  to  this  most  important  subject,  and  that  representa- 
tives of  distinguished  commercial  bodies  from  all  sections  of  the  country  are  here 
in  conference  assembled  to  discuss  it  seriously. 

Well,  gentlemen,  greatly  as  the  importance  of  our  relations  with  countries  to 
the  south  of  us  had  previously  impressed  itself  upon  me,  that  impression  was  strength- 
ened a  hundredfold  by  my  visit  last  summer  to  those  two  great  countries  of  the  far 
south — Argentina  and  Chile. 

I  wish  I  could  give  this  assembly  an  adequate  idea  of  the  complete  harmony 
that  prevailed,  and  feeling  of  American  solidarity,  in  the  deliberations  of  that  great 
Parliament  of  America,  the  Pan  American  Conference  at  Buenos  Aires,  which  sat 
for  over  seven  weeks,  and  in  which  not  a  single  unkind  or  unfriendly  word  was 
uttered  from  beginning  to  end ;  of  the  desire  manifested  by  all  the  other  delegates  to 
fall  in  as  far  as  possible  with  the  views  of  their  colleagues  from  the  United  States, 
and  of  the  warm  personal  friendship  established,  and  which,  as  far  as  I  am  con- 
cerned, will  be  lasting,  between  each  and  every  delegate  to  the  Conference. 

You  have,  however,  in  your  hands  the  report  to  the  Secretary  of  State  of  our 
delegation  to  the  Conference,  and  I  would  suggest  that  every  member  of  this  Confer- 
ence read  the  allusions  to  our  country  made  in  the  opening  and  closing  speeches  of  the 
two  Argentine  Ministers  of  Foreign  Affairs,  who  successfully  held  office  during  the 
sessions  of  the  Conference,  and  also  the  speeches  of  the  President  of  the  Conference 
himself,  on  the  days  of  its  opening  and  of  its  close.  I  may  add  that  similar  sentiments 
were  expressed  by  the  Chilean  President  and  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  during 
the  official  visit  which  our  delegates  made  as  a  Special  Embassy  to  the  hundredth 
anniversary  of  Chile's  independence,  in  speeches  which  they  made  on  our  arrival  and 
departure. 

But  perhaps  the  most  interesting  feature  of  the  Conference,  next  to  the  har- 
mony and  friendship  which  characterized  its  deliberations,  was  the  close  friendship 
which  sprung  up  there  between  the  three  great  powers  of  the  Far  South — Argentina, 
Brazil  and  Chile — known  among  ourselves  as  the  "A  B  C"  of  the  Conference,  and  the 

191 


WHV  in  which  they  availed  themselves  of  every  opportunity  to  show  their  friendship 
separately  and  collectively  for  us.  Neither  of  the  three  ever  voted  otherwise  than 
as  our  delegation  did.  We  always  voted  first— by  the  Conference's  arrangement,  not 
ours— and  the  other  three  in  the  order  mentioned,  immediately  after  us,  and  on  the 
whole  there  was  very  little  voting  against  the  four  delegations  in  question,  on  any 
subject. 

Whatever  may  be  said  or  written  to  the  contrary  by  those  whose  interest  it  is 
to  promote  discord,  those  great  Powers  of  the  South  have  no  longer  any  fear  of  our 
wishing  to  obtain  territorial  extension  at  their  expense  or  at  the  expense  of  any  other 
country,  or  of  our  aspiring  to  any  other  undue  advantage  over  them ;  and  they  sympa- 
thize fully  with  the  efforts  our  Government  is  making  to  improve  conditions  in  Cen- 
tral America.  It  is  to  my  mind  of  the  greatest  advantage  to  all  America,  and  this 
country  in  particular,  that  there  should  be  at  the  southern  end  of  our  hemisphere 
three  important  Powers  in  complete  sympathy  with  each  other  and  with  us,  and 
anxious  to  develop  trade  relations  to  the  greatest  possible  extent  with  this  country. 

Those  great  countries  are  above  all  things  desirous  our  merchants  should  come 
there  and  do  business  with  their  people,  and  they  cannot  understand  why  we  should  so 
long  have  neglected  the  opportunities  they  offer  us,  and  leave  them  entirely  in  the  hands 
of  other  great  commercial  countries.  Not  only  Great  Britain,  which  has  been  invest- 
ing for  more  than  a  century  in  the  Argentine  Republic  and  other  American  countries, 
has,  I  was  credibly  informed,  $2,500,000,000  invested  in  the  former  alone,  producing 
an  average  annual  return  of  at  least  10  per  cent.,  but  Germany,  Italy,  France  and 
other  countries — the  first  particularly — are  doing  likewise.  A  first-class  passenger 
and  freight  steamer  arrives  nearly  every  day  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  Buenos  Aires 
from  one  European  port  or  another.  There  are  any  number  of  British,  German, 
Italian  and  other  foreign  banks,  and,  what  is  perhaps  most  important  of  all,  the  citi- 
zens of  the  countries  named  go  to  Latin  America  themselves,  become  familiar  with 
the  language  and  attend  in  person  to  their  business  there. 

But  how  is  it  with  us — the  nation  of  all  others  whose  influence  should  be  felt 
in  those  countries,  (i)  Not  a  single  American  bank;  the  official  representatives  of 
our  country  even  having  to  cash  their  drafts  on  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States 
through  a  British  or  other  bank  via  some  European  city;  (2)  one  direct  passenger 
steamer  a  month  from  New  York  to  Buenos  Aires  and  intermediate  ports  on  the 
East  Coast  of  South  America,  taking  twenty-five  days  for  the  voyage  and  another 
requiring  a  change  of  steamers  at  Rio,  in  about  the  same  time ;  and  those  two  ships 
under  the  flag  of  another  country. 

In  addition  to  this,  scarcely  an  American  is  to  be  found  representing  American 
business  interests  permanently  in  Buenos  Aires  or  Santiago,  even  the  sale  of  the  ma- 
chines of  one  of  the  greatest  of  our  agricultural  machine  manufacturers  being  in  the 
hands  of  an  agent  not  of  our  own  nationality,  who  sells  similar  machines  from  his  own 
country.  Can  that  man  be  blamed  if  he  gives  the  preference  to  the  machines  of  the 
country  from  which  he  hails,  and  only  sells  ours  when  they  are  asked  for  ?  Of  course 
not.  And  I  could,  if  time  allowed,  give  many  similar  instances  of  the  way  in  which 
we  have  been  positively  inviting  other  great  countries  to  take  the  lion's  share  of  this 
wonderful  field  for  investment,  an  invitation  of  which  they  have  certainly  not  been 
slow  to  avail  themselves. 

The  whole  situation  is  simply  incredible  to  anyone  who  has  not  actually  been 
there  and  seen  it  for  himself,  but  I  have  derived  much  consolation  during  the  past  few 
days  from  the  knowledge  that  the  head  of  one  of  our  large  business  firms  has  been 
recently  himself  to  the  Argentine  and  Chile,  and  has  secured  a  ten-year  contract — the 
largest  ever  made — for  the  supply  of  this  particular  commodity  in  any  foreign  coun- 
try, and  I  hope  when  the  particulars  of  this  transaction  become  known  ( I  am  not  at 
present  allowed  to  mention  names),  and  especially,  when  the  voluminous  returns 
which  are  certain  to  result  from  this  investment  begin  to  be  realized,  that  other  fellow- 
citizens  of  ours  will  follow  this  admirable  example  in  consequently  increasing 
numbers. 

Gentlemen,  I  am  not  a  statistician,  and  if  I  were  I  should  not  permit  myself 
to  take  up  your  time  today  with  a  series,  of  figures  to  show  how  much  we  are  losing 
annually  by  the  policy  we  have  hitherto  pursued  in  respect  to  co'mmercial  intercourse 
with  South  America. 

I  would  merely  say  that,  in  my  opinion,  there  is  but  one  way — and  one  way 
only— by  which  that  intercourse  can  be  placed  on  a  proper  footing,  and  that  is  by  ships 
of  our  own,  such  as  the  other  great  commercial  countries  of  the  world,  who  now 

192 


practically  monopolize  the  trade  with  Southern  America,  have.  By  ships  I  mean 
first-class,  fast  passenger  and  freight-carrying  steamers,  flying  our  own  flag,  between 
our  ports  and  those  of  Central  and  South  America. 

Nothing  can  be  more  derogatory  to  our  dignity  and  to  our  interests  in  those 
countries  than  the  fact  that  our  flag  is  never  seen  there  on  merchant  steamers.  This 
circumstance  some  may  consider  sentimental.  I  can  assure  you  that  it  is  not,  but  emi- 
nently practical,  as  it  is  beyond  question  that  we  pay  an  enormous  sum  to  other 
nations — I  understand  upwards  of  $300,000,000  annually — for  the  privilege  of  carry- 
ing our  over-sea  commerce.  In  comparison,  any  subsidy  that  could  be  imagined  would 
be  the  merest  trifle,  quite  apart  from  the  fact  that  under  present  conditions  we  are 
contributing  largely  toward  the  increase  and  maintenance  of  the  merchant  marine  of 
other  countries,  which  must  at  least  be  useless  to  us  and  might  be  hostile  in  the  event 
of  war.  For  this  reason  I  cannot  help  deeply  regretting  the  fate  which  seems  likely 
to  befall  in  Congress  the  bill  popularly  known  as  the  Gallinger  Ship  Subsidy  Bill, 
providing  moderate  subsidies  for  steamers  of  not  less  than  16  knots,  running  be- 
tween our  ports  and  those  of  Central  and  South  America.  It  was  only  passed  in  the 
Senate  by  the  Vice- President's  casting  vote,  and  will,  I  am  told,  be  defeated  in  the 
House  of  Representatives. 

I  am  wholly  unconnected  with  any  business  interests,  and  consequently  with 
any  shipping  interests,  having  devoted  the  past  twenty-eight  years  of  my  life  to  the 
diplomatic  service  of  the  United  States.  I  am  neither  for  nor  against  subsidies,  and 
am  rather  inclined  on  general  principles  to  be  against  them  rather  than  in  their  favor, 
but  I  am  for  ships — merchant  ships  under  the  American  flag,  between  ports  of  this 
country  and  the  rest  of  America,  and  if  we  cannot  get  these  ships  otherwise  than  by 
subsidies,  then  I  am  for  subsidies,  or  for  any  other  measure  that  will  give  us  means 
of  communication  with  our  sister  Republics. 

The  size  and  speed  of  the  steamers  which  the  European  Commercial  Powers 
are  sending  to  South  America  is  being  steadily  increased,  and  the  Italians  have  now 
two  or  three  new  ones  averaging  eighteen  knots  an  hour.  With  such  ships  the  voyage 
from  New  York  or  other  ports  of  the  United  States  to  Buenos  Aires  could  be  per- 
formed in  less  than  fourteen  days,  and  to  Brazil  in  about  eleven  days.  In  order  to  get 
the  American  delegation  to  the  Pan  American  Conference  under  our  own  flag  the 
Government  had  to  send  us  out  on  an  army  transport,  which,  averaging  only  eleven 
knots,  took  twenty-one  days  for  the  voyage. 

Nations  are  like  individuals ;  they  cannot  become  intimate  with  each  other  un- 
less they  meet  from  time  to  time  and  exchange  views  in  personal  intercourse.  Still 
less  are  they  likely  to  trade  freely  and  to  have  confidence  in  each  other  save  under 
those  circumstances.  On  the  other  hand,  they  are  not  unlikely  to  drift  apart  and  be- 
come suspicious  of  each  other  if  they  never  do  meet.  Well,  the  only  way  in  which  the 
people  of  the  countries  south  of  us  are  likely  to  come  to  us,  or  ours  to  go  freely  to 
them,  is  on  good,  fast,  steamships.  At  present  the  only  comfortable  way  is  by  way  of 
Europe.  '  '  i  *il*j 

Nothing  can  be  more  interesting  and  remarkable  than  the  manner  in  which 
the  Germans  during  the  brief  period  of  their  existence  as  a  great  nation,  and  particu- 
larly of  late  years,  have  realized  that  it  is  by  merchant  ships  of  their  own,  carrying 
their  goods  all  over  the  world  in  exchange  for  other  goods  which  they  bring  home, 
rather  than  by  colonies,  that  their  influence  can  be  most  advantageously  and  profit- 
ably exerted  throughout  the  world.  They  are  consequently  competing  most  success- 
fully with  their  fine  merchant  steamers,  which  they  do  not  hesitate  to  subsidize  wher- 
ever desirable,  for  the  trade  of  South  America  with  all  the  other  Powers  now  engaged 
therein^  And  I  say  this  in  no  spirit  of  hostility,  but,  on  the  contrary,  with  the  greatest 
admiration  for  the  manner  in  which  that  great  nation  has  realized  from  the  first,  the 
best  way  of  extending  its  influence  and  of  increasing  its  wealth,  and  has  allowed  no 
question  of  expense  or  any  other  obstacle  to  stand  in  the  way  of  the  attainment  of 
those  objects  which  are  not  only  legitimate,  but  of  vital  importance  for  every  nation. 
Even  the  Japanese,  who  are  not  supposed  to  be  a  wealthy  nation,  but  are  a  very  mar- 
velous and  intelligent  nation,  have  realized  also  the  importance  of  the  South  and 
Central  American  trade,  and  are  beginning  to  compete  for  that  of  the  West  Coast 
with  a  line  of  subsidized  merchant  steamers — and  very  good  steamers  they  are,  top — 
running  to  Salina  Cruz  in  Mexico,  thence  to  Callao,  and  from  there  to  Valparaiso, 
returning  to  Japan  by  the  same  route. 

I  cannot  believe  that  we  are  the  only  nation  on  earth  who  are  unable  to  have 
ships  wherewith  to  compete  for  our  share  of  that  great  commerce  which  is  particu- 
larly within  our  own  sphere,  and  should  be  ours  also,  any  more  than  I  can  believe 

193 


that  we  arc  the  only  great  nation  of  the  world  which  cannot  have  a  sound  monetary 
svstem— a  system  whereby  our  periodical  financial  panics,  which  are  the  laughing- 
stock of  the  world  would  be  avoided,  and  which  would  make  this  country,  if  we  had 
it  (as  I  believe  we  shall  have  before  long),  the  financial  center  of  the  world. 

I  would  therefore  earnestly  appeal  to  the  great  commercial  bodies  of  the  coun- 
try whose  representatives  are  here  today,  to  bring  all  possible  pressure  to  bear  upon 
members  of  Congress  from  their  respective  districts  with  a  view  to  turning  their  at- 
tention to  the  restoration  of  our  merchant  marine— at  least  to  the  seas  between  our 
ports  and  those  of  Central  and  South  America,  whether  by  subsidies  or  otherwise— 
1  care  not— so  long  as  we  have  ships !  But  ships  we  must  have,  or  resign  ourselves 
to  becoming  a  tributary  nation  in  so  far  as  our  ocean-borne  trade  is  concerned,  to 
those  who  carry  it  for  us.  I  suppose  that  no  one  here  doubts  that  foreigners  carry 
products  on  terms  most  advantageous  to  themselves  and  not  to  us,  and  in  their  own 

If,  however,  Congress  has  not  seen  its  way  to  the  restoration  of  our  merchant 
marine  in  American  waters,  1  am  happy  to  say  that  that  distinguished  body  took  a 
step  last  week  of  far-reaching  importance  to  our  commercial  interests  for  which  it 
deserves  all  possible  credit.  1  refer  to  the  bill  which  was  passed  by  both  houses  for 
the  purchase  of  houses  for  our  embassies,  legations  and  consulates  in  foreign  countries. 

I  have  trespassed  too  long  upon  the  time  of  this  assembly  to  venture  upon  a 
dissertation  upon  the  importance  of  that  measure,  but  I  am  happy,  from  the  point  of 
view  of  our  relations  with  our  sister  republics  of  America,  to  find  that  the  provisions 
of  this  Act  of  Congress  are  such  as  practically  to  compel  our  Government  to  limit  its 
scope  at  present  to  those  particular  countries  in  which  it  is  of  greater  importance  even 
than  elsewhere  that  we  own  our  official  buildings  without  a  moment's  delay. 

I  understand — but  have  not  yet  seen  the  Act  itself  since  passage  by  Senate  and 
House — that  no  more  than  $150,000  can  be  spent  under  its  provisions  upon  any  one 
building.  Well,  it  will  be  perfectly  possible  to  obtain  commodious  and  suitable  build- 
ings within  that  limit  in  every  South  and  Central  American  capital  except  Buenos 
Aires,  where  it  will  not  be  possible,  owing  to  enormous  rise  during  the  last  year  or 
two  in  the  price  of  land  in  the  best  sections  of  that  city,  and  to  the  great  expense  there 
of  building  and  of  everything. 

And  here  I  should  just  like  to  say  a  word  about  the  stress  which  has  been  laid 
during  debates  on  this  subject,  in  Congress  and  elsewhere  also,  for  many  years  past, 
upon  the  alleged  impossibility  for  an  Ambassador  or  Minister,  with  little  or  no  private 
means,  of  living  in  a  house  costing  $150,000,  $200,000  or  $300,000,  or  whatever  the 
amount  may  be.  It  never  seems  to  have  occurred  to  those  raising  that  question  that 
the  cost  of  a  house  depends  entirely  upon  the  place  in  which  it  is  situated.  In  the 
best  residential  districts  of  New  York  a  house  costing  $150,000  would  be  a  very  small 
one,  so  would  such  a  house  in  Buenos  Aires,  London,  Berlin,  Vienna,  Rome  or  St. 
Petersburg,  where  houses  of  very  moderate  size  cost  upwards  of  $300,000,  and  even 
$400,000,  according  to  the  price  of  the  land  on  which  they  are  built  and  to  other  local 
conditions. 

The  main  point  is  to  have  a  house  of  suitable  size  for  our  foreign  representa- 
tives to  inhabit,  so  that  they  shall  not  be  dependent  upon  the  rapacity  of  local  land- 
lords, or  have  to  spend  the  whole  of  his  salary  upon  his  house  rent,  as  is  the  case  with 
our  present  minister  to  the  Argentine,  Mr.  Sherrill,  who  has  rendered  invaluable 
service  to  our  commercial  and  other  interests  in  that  country.  He  not  only  had  to  do 
this,  but  has  been  turned  out  of  the  house  in  the  middle  of  his  term  of  office  because 
the  landlord  wanted  it  for  himself,  and  the  same  thing  has  frequently  happened  to  our 
Ambassadors  in  the  great  capitals  of  Europe. 

The  present  Ambassador  to  Italy  has  so  far  been  unable  to  find  any  residence 
at  all,  and  is  knocking  about  in  hotels,  than  which  nothing  can  be  more  derogatory 
to  the  dignity  of  the  country  he  represents. 

This  is  a  subject,  gentlemen,  upon  which  I  have  felt  so  deeply  ever  since  my 
early  youth,  when  upon  going  to  Paris,  just  after  our  Civil  War,  my  national  pride 
was  humiliated  by  the  fine  houses  owned  by  other  Great  Powers,  and  in  which  they 
lodged  their  Embassies  and  Legations,  while  all  that  we  could  call  a  Legation  con- 
sisted of  a  few  rooms  up  three  flights  of  stairs  over  a  corner  grocery  store.  I  dare 
not  even  now  trust  myself  to  speak  of  it.  And  it  is  unnecessary  any  longer  to  do  so, 
as  Congress  has  at  last  taken  steps  to  remedy  this  humiliation. 

Suffice  it  to  say  that  nations,  as  is  the  case  with  individuals,  are  respected  by 
the  nations  precisely  to  the  extent  to  which  they  cause  the  impression  to  prevail  that 
they  respect  themselves. 

194 


Nothing  produces  this  feeling  in  respect  to  a  nation  so  thoroughly  with  the 
exception,  perhaps^  of  a  powerful  navy  as  dignified  provision  for  its  representatives 
in  foreign  countries  and  an  important  merchant  marine  carrying  the  products  under 
its  own  flag  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth. 

We  already  have  a  powerful  navy.  We  shall  soon  now  have  housed  our  Am- 
bassadors, Ministers  and  Consuls  as  they  should  be  provided  for  in  that  respect,  and  I 
would  earnestly  entreat  every  commercial  body  in  this  country  to  urge  by  every  means 
in  its  power  upon  Congress  the  urgent  necessity  for  a  merchant  marine  without  delay. 
Especially  the  urgency  of  our  having  such  a  merchant  marine  before  the  opening 
a  few  years  hence  of  the  great  interoceanic  waterway,  a  work  of  Herculean  magnitude 
which  it  will  have  been  the  glory  of  our  country  to  contribute  to  the  promotion  of 
international  commerce  and  to  the  immeasurable  benefit  of  humanity. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  This  is  the  closing  day  of  the  Conference,  which 
has  been  far  more  successful  and  achieved  far  more  than  any  of  us  dreamed  it  ever 
would.  It  is  most  gratifying  that  several  hundred  admittedly  forceful  captains  of 
industry  could  have  remained  here  almost  an  entire  week  to  discuss  the  matter  of  the 
Pan  American  commerce ;  and  I  am  sure  that  you  will  all  agree  with  me  that  it  is 
fitting,  indeed,  that  at  the  conclusion  of  so  many  days  of  effort  they  should  be  made 
all  the  more  successful  and  interesting  and  specific  by  the  presence  here  this  morning 
of  a  man  who,  perhaps,  has  done  more  than  any  other  living  man  to  develop  the  com- 
merce and  comity  among  the  American  republics,  the  Honorable  Elihu  Root. 

ADDRESS  OF  HON.  ELIHU  ROOT,  SENATOR 
FROM  NEW  YORK. 

Mr.  ROOT  said : 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  have  not  come  to  deliver  an  address 
or  to  make  a  speech,  but  simply  to  show  my  good  will  and  sympathy  with  the  move- 
ment in  which  you  are  engaged,  and  to  express  my  regret  that  the  rather  pressing 
occupation  of  the  last  weeks  of  a  short  session  has  made  it  impossible  for  me  to  be 
here  at  an  earlier  time  and  to  spend  more  time  with  you.  You  are  the  real  thing. 

Governments  may  hold  doors  open  all  over  the  world,  but  if  there  is  no  one 
to  go  through  them  it  is  an  empty  form,  and  people  get  tired  of  holding  doors  open 
as  an  empty  form.  The  claims  of  a  Government  to  consideration  soon  come  to  be 
regarded  as  pretentions  unless  there  are  really  substantial  interests  behind  the  claims.. 
No  Government,  and  least  of  all  our  Government,  least  of  all  a  democratic  Republic, 
can  make  commerce  to  go  through  open  doors,  to  avail  itself  of  fair  and  equal  treat- 
ment, and  to  give  substance  and  reality  to  the  theoretical  increase  of  amity  and 
friendship  between  nations.  The  people  of  the  country  must  do  it  themselves,  and 
they  must  do  it  by  individual  enterprise;  they  must  do  it  by  turning  their  attention 
toward  the  opportunities  that  are  afforded  by  friendly  Governments,  by  availing 
themselves  of  those  opportunities,  and  by  carrying  on  their  business  through  availing 
themselves  then.  But  while  it  is  a  matter  of  individual  enterprise,  while  that  must 
be  the  basis  of  all  development  and  progress,  all  advance,  all  extension,  nevertheless, 
there  must  be  something  besides  the  individual  enterprise.  The  great  principle  of 
organization,  which  is  revolutionizing  the  business  and  the  social  enterprise  of  the 
world,  applies  here  as  it  applies  elsewhere.  No  single  business  can  make  very  much 
advance  except  as  all  other  business  of  the  country  makes  advance.  No  one  can  go 
into  a  new  field  very  far  in  advance  of  others,  and  the  way  for  each  man  to  make 
his  business  successful  in  a  new  field  is  to  do  his  share  as  a  member  of  the  com- 
munity, as  a  citizen  of  his  country,  as  one  of  the  great  business  organizations  of  his 
country,  to  advance  the  trade,  the  commerce,  the  influence  of  his  country  as  a  whole 
in  the  field  into  which  he  wishes  to  enter.  A  recognition  of  the  dependence  of  each 
man's  business  for  its  prosperity  and  progress  upon  the  prosperity  and  progress  of 
the  business  of  all  is  necessary  in  order  that  there  be  real  progress.  Now,  there  are 
Governments  who  undertake  actively  to  lead  in  this  direction,  and  they  are  Govern- 
ments who  are  making  enormous  progress.  Germany,  a  country  regarding  which 
Mr.  White  has  just  spoken  in  such  apt  and  appropriate  terms,  leads,  and  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  in  various  directions,  it  requires  the  combination  of  her  manufac- 
turers, her  producers  and  her  commercial  concerns.  Japan  practically  does  also. 
There  is  solidarity  brought  about  by  the  wonderful  organization  of  that  combination, 
so  that  it  is  one  for  all  and  all  for  one  under  Government  leadership.  We  cannot 
do  it  here.  Our  country  cannot  take  that  kind  of  lead.  Our  people  do  not  conceive 


of  that  as  a  function  of  government,  and  as  far  as  the  activities  of  our  Government 
are  concerned  they  are  largely  engaged  in  breaking  up  organizations  which  do  in- 
crease the  industrial  efficiency  of  our  country.  I  do  not  want  to  be  understood  as 
criticising  that.  It  is  all  right  to  break  them  up  when  they  are  taking  too  great  a 
portion  of  the  field  for  themselves.  It  is  all  right  and  important  to  break  them  up 
when  they  are  monopolizing  the  means  of  subsistence  that  should  be  spread  through- 
out the  great  body  of  the  people.  But  we  must  recognize  the  fact  that  when  our 
Government  does  enforce  the  law — a  just  law,  wise  law — against  our  great  commer- 
cial and  our  great  industrial  organizations  it  reduces  the  industrial  efficiency  of  the 
country.  There  is  only  one  way  to  counteract  that  effect,  not  violating  any  law,  but 
securing  through  organization  the  united  action  and  concentrated  action  of  great 
numbers  of  Americans  who  have  a  common  purpose,  substituting  that  kind  of  organi- 
zation for  the  organizations  which  it  is  the  duty  of  our  Government  to  break  up, 
because  they  are  contrary  to  our  laws. 

I  am  much  gratified  by  this  meeting  and  by  the  association  of  so  many  prac- 
tical men,  business  men,  who,  by  uniting,  are  really  creating  a  new  force  in  this  direc- 
tion, upon  which  I  am  sure  we  ought  to  move. 

Let  me  say  one  thing  about  the  practical  direction  of  your  efforts.  The  so- 
called  ship  subsidy  bill  has  been  reduced  now  to  nothing  but  the  proposition  that  the 
Government  should  be  authorized  to  pay  adequate  compensation  to  secure  the  car- 
riage of  the  mails,  to  pay  out  of  the  profits  of  the  ocean  mail  service  adequate  com- 
pensation to  procure  the  carriage  of  the  mails  by  American  steamers  to  South 


be  lost  in  the  shuffle. 

There  are  two  reasons  why  that  perfectly  simple  and  reasonable  proposition 
failed  to  carry  a  great  majority  of  the  Senate  and  fails — if  it  does  fail — to  be  certain 
of  passing  the  House.  One  is  because  there  is  a  difference  between  the  people  who 
want  to  have  the  thing  accomplished  about  the  way  in  which  it  should  be  accom- 
plished. That  is  one  of  the  most  common  things  in  the  world.  A  certain  set  of  men 
who  want  to  have  a  revival  of  our  merchant  marine  say  the  way  to  do  it  is  to  pay 
subsidies;  the  way  to  do  it  is  to  equalize  the  differences  between  the  cost  of  main- 
taining and  running  an  American  ship  and  the  cost  of  maintaining  and  running  a 
foreign  ship,  and  to  equalize  the  subsidies  paid  by  practically  all  the  other  great  com- 
.mercial  nations  to  their  steamship  lines.  Another  set  of  men  who  equally  desire  to 
restore  our  merchant  marine  say  that  is  not  the  right  way.  The  right  way  is  to 
throw  open  the  doors  and  enable  our  people  to  buy  their  ships  abroad.  But  still 
others  say  the  true  way  is  to  authorize  our  ships  to  employ  crews  and  officers  of  the 
low-priced  men  of  the  world,  relieve  them  from  the  obligations  that  are  imposed  upon 
them  in  respect  of  the  employment  of  Americans,  people  of  the  United  States,  who 
will  require  the  high  standard  of  living  that  has  been  produced  in  the  United  States 
by  the  operation  of  our  protective  system,  relieve  them  from  the  obligations  which 
are  imposed  upon  them  by  our  laws  in  regard  to  the  requirements  of  the  crew  and 
air  space,  the  food  and  the  treatment  that  a  crew  is  to  receive,  so  that  it  will  be 
cheaper  to  run  an  American  ship.  Now,  between  these  different  sets  of  people, 
having  different  ideas  of  the  way  to  accomplish  a  thing,  nothing  is  done,  and  that 
situation  which  exists  so  frequently  regarding  so  many  measures  will  exist  forever 
unless  there  is  put  behind  the  proposition  a  force  that  gives  it  a  momentum  to  carry 
it  over  such  obstacles ;  put  force  enough  behind  it  so  that  the  gentlemen  in  the  Sen- 
ate and  House  of  Representatives  understand  that  they  are  going  to  be  held  respon- 
sible by  the  American  people,  going  to  be  held  responsible  for  not  doing  the  thing, 
for  not  finding  out  some  way  to  do  it,  and  they  will  come  to  this  sensible  conclusion 
very  shortly,  and  that  is : 

"We  will  settle  the  controversy  about  the  way  it  should  be  done  by  trying  one 
thing  first,  and  if  that  don't  work  we  will  try  the  other." 

Another  difficulty  about  this  measure  is  that  there  is  a  difference  in  apprecia- 
tion of  its  importance  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  Down  here  on  the  seaboard 
I  think  most  people  do  appreciate  it.  You  appreciate  it;  all  the  people  who  are  con- 
cerned, or  wish  to  be  concerned,  in  South  American  trade,  or  trade  of  the  Orient, 
appreciate  it ;  but  you  go  back  into  the  interior  of  the  country,  into  the  great  agricul- 
tural States  of  the  Northwest  and  the  farther  Middle  West,  States  along  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Missouri,  and  the  people  there  are  thinking  about  other 
things,  and  they  have  a  natural  dislike  for  subsidies,  and  when  told  that  a  measure 

196 


means  giving  somebody  else  something  for  nothing  they  express  and  impress  upon 
their  Representatives  a  great  dislike  for  it.  The  way  for  us  to  get  something  done 
is  not  for  us  who  are  in  favor  of  it  to  talk  to  each  other  about  it  We  can  do  that 
indefinitely  without  getting  much  further.  The  way  is  to  take  steps  to  bring  to  the 
minds  of  the  people  of  the  valley  of  the  Missouri  and  the  Northwest,  bring  to  the 
minds  of  the  people  and  those  great  agricultural  States  the  importance  to  them,  as 
well  as  to  us,  of  having  our  merchant  marine  restored. 

I  noticed  here  the  other  day  that  the  people  of  San  Francisco  were  justifying 
their  confidence  in  themselves  by  procuring  all  their  business  correspondents  in  the 
State  of  New  York  to  write  letters  to  me  in  favor  of  having  the  great  "Exposition 
and  Celebration  of  the  Opening  of  the  Canal  in  San  Francisco,"  and  these  letters 
came  in  by  the  thousand  from  my  constituents.  They  became  so  tiresome  that  I 
came  very  near  voting  against  the  project  as  a  measure  of  revenge,  but  it  showed 
the  San  Francisco  people  understood  where  to  go  in  order  to  preach  their  doctrine. 
They  did  not  talk  to  each  other  on  the  Pacific  coast  about  it.  They  came  to  New 
York  and  got  their  business  correspondents  interested  in  it  and  got  them  to  talk  to 
their  Representatives  about  it.  That  is  what  you  want  to  do  in  Kansas  and  Ne- 
braska and  Iowa  and  the  Dakotas — you  want,  through  all  the  relations  that  you  have, 
and  by  every  means  in  your  power,  to  represent  to  the  people  of  those  great  interior 
States,  who  have  but  little  direct  relation  with  the  ocean  commerce  of  the  world, 
the  real  conditions  under  which  we  exist,  and  the  importance  to  the  whole  country 
of  doing  something;  and  if  they  do  come  to  appreciate  the  importance  to  the  country 
of  doing  what  you  are  talking  about,  then  they  will  be  for  it,  for  they  are  sincere, 
patriotic  Americans. 

There  is  but  one  thing  more  I  want  to  say  regarding  the  relations  which  under- 
lie the  success  of  such  an  enterprise  as  you  are  now  engaged  in.  Of  course,  you 
have  had  a  great  amount  of  advice,  and  a  great  many  speakers  have  told  you  a  great 
many  things  you  know,  and  I  am  going  to  put  myself  in  line  with  the  distinguished 
gentlemen  who  have  preceded  me  by  doing  the  same  thing.  At  the  basis  of  all  inter- 
course, commercial  as  well  as  social,  necessarily  lies  a  genuine  good  understanding. 
That  cannot  be  simulated;  the  pretense  of  it  is  in  general  in  the  long  run  futile. 
People  trade  with  those  with  whom  they  have  sympathy;  they  tend  to  trade  with 
their  friends.  The  basis  of  all  permanent  commercial  intercourse  is  benefit  to  both 
parties — not  that  cutthroat  relation  which  may  exist  between  enemies,  where  one  is 
trying  to  do  the  other — and  a  relation  upon  mutual  respect,  good  understanding, 
sympathy  and  friendship ;  and  the  way  to  reach  the  condition  which  is  thus  essential 
is  by  personal  intercourse  and  acquaintance  between  the  men  of  Anglo-Saxon  or 
German  or  Norse,  or  whatever  race  they  may  be,  peopling  the  United  States,  and 
the  men  of  the  Latin  American  race  peopling  the  countries  of  the  South.  This  is 
something,  my  friends,  in  which  our  people  are  very  deficient.  So  long  we  have 
been  separated  from  the  other  nations  of  the  earth  that  one  of  our  faults  is  a  failure 
to  appreciate  the  qualities  of  the  people  who  are  unlike  us.  I  have  often  had  occa- 
sion to  quote  something  that  Bret  Harte  said  about  the  people  of  a  frontier  Western 
camp,  to  whom  came  a  stranger  who  was  regarded  by  them  as  having  the  defective 
moral  quality  of  being  a  "foreigner."  Difference  from  us  does  not  involve  infe- 
riority to  us.  It  may  involve  our  inferiority  to  somebody  else.  The  sooner  our 
business  men  open  their  minds  to  the  idea  that  the  peoples  of  other  countries,  dif- 
ferent races  and  speaking  different  languages  and  with  different  customs  and  laws, 
are  quite  our  equals,  worthy  of  our  respect,  worthy  of  our  esteem,  regard  and  affec- 
tion, the  sooner  we  shall  reach  a  basis  on  which  we  can  advance  our  commerce  all 
over  the  world.  A  little  more  modesty  is  a  good  thing  for  us  occasionally;  a  little 
appreciation  of  the  good  qualities  of  others — and  let  me  tell  you  that  nowhere  on 
earth  are  there  more  noble,  admirable  and  lovable  qualities  to  be  found  among  men 
than  you  will  find  among  the  people  of  Latin  America. 

Gentlemen,  I  beg  your  pardon  for  keeping  you  so  long  as  the  result  of  these 
remarks.  I  wish  you  Godspeed  in  your  efforts.  I  hope  for  you  the  effectiveness  of 
a  great  and  permanent  organization,  and  that  you  may  advance  the  time  when, 
through  more  perfect  knowledge,  through  broader  sympathies  and  a  better  under- 
standing, ties  of  commerce  may  bind  together  all  our  countries,  advance  our  wealth 
and  prosperity  and  well-being  with  equal  steps  as  they  advance  the  wealth  and 
prosperity  and  well-being  of  all  those  with  whom  we  deal,  and  advance  the  tie  of 
that  perfect  understanding  of  other  peoples  which  is  the  condition  of  unbroken  and 
permanent  peace. 

197 


DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  are  now  going  to  have  ten  minutes  of  the 
most  interesting  remarks  by  one  of  the  best  informed  men.  He  is  not  going  to 
generalize  upon  things  we  have  already  heard.  He  will  tell  us  from  his  own  expe- 
rience, and  then  we  are  going  to  ask  him  questions.  I  refer  to  Mr.  W.  C.  Downs, 
who  is  one  of  the  best  trade  specialists  of  the  country. 

REMARKS    OF    MR.    W.    C.  DOWNS    OF    WESSELS,  KULEM- 
KAMPFF  C&  CO.,  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

Mr.  DOWNS  said : 

Mr.  Director,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  You  must  paraon  me  for  not  respond- 
ing at  once  to  such  a  flattering  introduction.  I  did  not  recognize  myself. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  You  will  when  you  get  through. 

MR.  DOWNS:  I  regret  I  have  been  unable  to  attend  the  first  sessions  of  this 
very  useful  and  instructive  conference,  but  I  have  been  detained  in  New  York,  attend- 
ing to  actual  business,  and  that  actual  business  I  am  pleased  to  say  is  South  Amer- 
ican business.  But,  I  followed  with  a  great  deal  of  interest  the  reports  in  the  daily 
papers  of  your  proceedings,  and  it  is  quite  evident  that  the  manufacturers  of  the 
country  are  taking  a  sincere  and  deep  interest  in  South  American  trade  and  are 
studying  how  they  can  extend  the  sale  of  their  products  in  those  markets,  but  there 
is  one  point  in  all  the  discussions  that  has  struck  me  as  still  more  forcible,  which 
was  called  to  my  attention  when  I  registered  on  my  arrival  this  morning.  After 
giving  the  usual  pedigree,  the  question  was  put  to  me,  "What  do  you  manufacture?" 
and  I  was  obliged  to  answer,  "I  do  not  manufacture  anything ;  I  only  buy  and  sell." 
That  is  a  point  I  cannot  see  has  been  brought  out  in  your  discussions,  that  there  is 
a  big  difference  between  manufacturing  and  selling,  and  that  the  manufacturer  as  a 
rule  is  not  a  seller  even  in  this  country.  Even  in  this  country  the  large  manufac- 
turers have  separate  sales  agencies,  or  the  selling  of  their  products  is  entrusted  to 
specially  organized  firms  which  undertake  the  entire  sale  and  the  marketing  of  those 
products.  Now,  if  that  is  the  case  in  our  own  home  domestic  trade,  it  applies  still 
more  to  foreign  trade,  where  special  training  is  required  to  make  the  goods.  On 
the  chart  here,  at  the  side  you  have  the  statement  of  the  total  trade  with  South 
America,  in  which  it  appears  that  the  exports  from  the  United  States  to  Latin 
America  are  about  $240,000,000.  It  will  be  very  interesting  to  have  figures  on  the 
subject  of  how  much  of  that  $240,000,000  is  exported  direct  by  the  manufacturers. 
I  venture  to  say,  without  the  figures  before  me,  that  the  probability  is  that  not 
twenty  per  cent,  of  the  entire  $240,000,000  is  exported  by  the  manufacturers  them- 
selves. The  balance,  the  eighty  per  cent.,  is  done  through  special  selling  organiza- 
tions, such  as  the  export  commission  houses.  These  export  commission  houses  have 
specially  trained  staffs,  not  only  to  attend  to  all  the«particulars  of  shipping,  making 
out  papers  in  accordance  with  the  requirements  of  the  foreign  custom  houses  and 
foreign  consular  requirements,  but  in  most  places  in  South  America,  in  fact  in  all 
the  large  cities,  they  have  either  their  own  branches  and  establishments,  or  else 
special  agents  who  are  there  simply  for  the  purpose  of  selling  American  goods. 
Now,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  manufacturer  should  recognize  this  established  organ- 
ization for  selling;  and  my  plea  today  would  be  that  the  manufacturer  get  in  closer 
touch  with  the  export  commission  house  if  he  is  not  in  a  position  to  market  his 
product  direct.  In  many  countries  of  Central  America  and  South  America  that  is 
manifestly  impossible.  Take  the  Central  American  countries  and  the  countries 
bearing  on  the  Caribbean  Sea.  There  are  no  international  banking  facilities.  The 
trade  is  still  largely  that  of  barter — exchange  of  products.  The  Central  American 
and  North  Coast  merchant  ships  his  products  to  some  commission  agent  in  New 
York  or  New  Orleans.  Those  products  are  sold  on  commission  by  the  commission 
agent,  and  the  commission  agent  buys  assorted  manufactures  which  he  ships  in 
return.  These  orders  from  the  Central  American  and  North  Coast  merchants  are 
generally  for  very  small  quantities  of  an  immense  assortment  of  goods.  It  certainly 
would  not  pay  the  manufacturer  to  undertake  that  business  direct.  The  amount  of 
business  which  he  would  secure,  would  not  compensate  him  for  the  special  staff 
which  he  would  have  to  maintain  to  comply  with  the  consular  requirements 
and  custom  house  requirements  of  a  special  staff  of  salesmen  to  visit  the  trade, 
secure  their  orders  and  inform  him  in  regard  to  their  credit. 

On  the  East  Coast  of  South  America,  however,  and  on  the  West  Coast,  for  cer- 
tain products  the  orders  are  on  a  much  larger  scale,  so  that  a  manufacturer  who 

198 


produces  an  article  that  can  be  sold  on  a  sufficiently  large  scale  can  enter  the  market 
direct  if  he  sees  fit  to  do  so,  after  he  has  calculated  the  cost  of  representation,  cost 
of  a  special  staff  and  of  securing  his  information ;  but  there  are  also  a  large  number 
of  articles  which  are  sold  in  those  countries  which  come  under  this  class,  and  that 
is  the  field  that  the  commission  merchant  covers.  So  that  my  advice  would  be  that 
the  manufacturer  intending  to  enter  any  particular  South  American  field  inform 
himself  in  regard  to  the  organizations  already  established  in  those  fields  who  will 
pay  the  cash  for  his  goods,  who  will  finance  the  bills,  attending  to  all  the  shipping 
and  assume  all  the  responsibility. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  Mr.  Downs,  you  are  the  kind  of  man  they  want 
to  fire  some  questions  at. 

QUESTION  :  Do  you  advise  them  to  undertake  to  sell  direct,  if  by  so  doing 
the  manufacturers  are  liable  to  be  boycotted  by  the  commission  houses? 

MR.  DOWNS  :  No,  I  would  not  say  that  the  manufacturer  would  be  boycotted 
by  the  commission  houses  if  he  does  his  business  intelligently,  and  gives  to  the 
buyer  abroad  the  same  consideration,  and  takes  into  consideration  all  the  features 
that  the  commission  house  takes  in  it.  If  he  is  giving  the  buyer  abroad  credit,  his 
process  should  be  in  accordance  with  the  time  that  he  gives. 

MR.  GUMPERT:  Will  a  commission  house  undertake  introducing  a  good  manu- 
facturer ? 

MR.  DOWNS  :  A  commission  house  will  do  so,  but  I  should  advise  the  manu- 
facturer to  study  the  market  and  find  out  what  commission  house  is  best  suited  for 
the  particular  market  he  intends  to  enter.  That  is  something  that  the  Manufac- 
turers' Associations  and  the  Export  Associations  should  co-operate  in,  and  give  infor- 
mation to  manufacturers  as  to  what  houses  are  represented  or  have  facilities  for 
representation  in  certain  markets. 

MR.  GUMPERT  :  How  can  we  find  that  out,  if  the  commission  house  will  market 
certain  products?  « 

MR.  DOWNS  :  If  you  have  a  good  commission  house  you  can  see  the  corre- 
spondence and  get  a  list,  put  questions  to  them  frankly,  and  ask  them  if  they  are  in 
a  position  to  represent  you  in  Lima,  Buenos  Aires,  or  other  place,  what  their  facili- 
ties are  there — pin  them  down  and  find  out  whether  they  could  give  you  honest 
representation  in  those  countries  as  a  salesman. 

MR.  LINDEMAY  :  Can  not  the  manufacturers  take  some  steps  and  use  some 
means  in  co-operation  with  the  commission  house  to  find  a  market  for  their  goods 
in  foreign  countries;  for  instance,  South  America,  in  co-operation  with  the  com- 
mission houses,  perhaps  only  handling  technical  lines? 

MR.  DOWNS:  Certainly  they  can.  That  is  a  point  that  the  manufacturer 
should  study.  Let  him  advise  more  freely  with  the  commission  houses  as  to  the 
best  means  of  covering  certain  markets. 

MR.  HYDE  :  I  should  like  to  know  if  dealing  through  commission  houses  does 
not  raise  the  price  of  the  commodity  to  the  ultimate  consumer. 

MR.  DOWNS  :  I  would  answer  that  by  another  question,  being  a  Yankee.  Does 
it  not  cost  you  to  sell  commodities  in  this  country?  Do  you  expect  anyone  to  sell 
your  goods  for  nothing?  If  you  have  a  sales  agent,  do  you  not  pay  him  a  commis- 
sion, and  do  you  realize  what  the  average  commission  of  the  New  York  commission 
house  amounts  to?  Probably  less  than  2^  per  cent. 

MR.  JAY  C.  FREEMAN,  of  Lyon  &  Healy,  Chicago:  I  would  like  to  ask  Mr. 
Downs  if  he  can  inform  us  what  percentage  of  the  business  of  the  German,  French 
and  Italian  is  handled  through  the  commission  houses  ?  I  know  a  large  part  of  the 
German  trade  is  handled  through  Hamburg  houses.  Can  he  inform  us  what  per- 
centage ? 

MR.  DOWNS  :  I  cannot  tell  you  what  percentage  of  the  trade  is  handled 
through  commission  houses,  but  I  believe  the  majority  of  the  German  and  Italian 
business  is  handled  through  commission  houses  and  not  direct  by  the  manufacturer. 

MR.  FREEMAN  :  Our  experience  with  commission  houses  was  that  these  letters 
to  their  best  friends  down  there,  if  the  business  increases  enough  to  supplant  the 
business  of  the  commission  houses,  those  letters  were  a  good  investment  from  their 
standpoint.  Our  business  increased  from  sending  our  man  down  there  and  the 
commission  business  increased  also,  because  in  many  cases  we  wanted  to  take 
advantage  of  the  men  who  wanted  to  buy,  and  therefore  they  got  their  credit  and 
We  got  our  cash  in  New  York. 

MR.  H.  H.  HAINES.,  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Galveston,  Texas :  Do  com- 
mission houses  extend  credit? 

199 


PARAGUAY 


UNITED  KINGDOM 
#856,333 


Mi 

AKGtNTIHA. 
*  2.,  000,380 


PAX  AMZ.RSC  AH  Union 


MR.  DOWNS  :  Commission  houses  extend  credit  as  long  as  the  German  houses 
we  have  heard  so  much  about,  say  three  months  after  the  arrival  of  the  goods. 

MR.  HAINES  :  Charged  on  open  account  or  over-due  account  ? 

MR.  DOWNS  :  The  majority  of  the  business  is  on  draft  attached  to  the  bill  of 
lading. 

MR.  HAINES:  But  I  refer  to  the  credit  business.  Is  there  an  interest  rate 
charged  on  the  open  account? 

MR.  DOWNS.:  Most  certainly  the  time  has  to  be  taken  into  consideration. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  sure  we  are  grateful  to  Mr.  Downs  for  his 
participation. 

I  am  going  to  inject  a  little  unexpected  feature  into  our  program,  which  I 
know  you  will  appreciate,  by  requesting  the  distinguished  Argentine  naval  officer, 
Rear  Admiral  Domecq  Garcia,  who  has  consented  to  say  just  a  word,  which  I  am 
sure  will  be  of  interest.  Admiral  Garcia  has  been  sent  here  to  have  charge  of  the 
construction  of  the  battleships  being  constructed  in  this  country  for  Argentina. 

REMARKS  BY  REAR  ADMIRAL  M.  DOMECQ  GARCIA, 
OF  THE  ARGENTINE  NAVY 

Rear  Admiral  GARCIA  said : 

Gentlemen,  excuse  me,  because  I  arrived  in  this  place  only  yesterday,  invited 
by  my  friend,  Mr.  Barrett.  I  had  expected  to  come  here  only  on  business,  but  listen- 
ing to  some  of  the  speeches  here  I  thought  of  some  points  that  I  think  will  be  of 
interest  to  you,  especially  regarding  the  merchant  marine. 

First,  I  must  thank  Mr.  Barrett  and  really  congratulate  him  regarding  this 
magnificent  meeting,  which  is  undoubtedly  the  starting  of  a  great  future  for  the 
Pan  American  Union. 

Nearby  here  is  a  very  nice  and  fine  building  devoted  to  the  Daughters  of  the 
American  Revolution;  but  I  think  this  business  is  more  grand,  because  this  is  the 
building  of  the  union  of  the  continent  and  for  that  reason  I  think  that  it  is  a  grand 
building. 

One  of  the  principal  things  for  the  commercial  relations  between  the  United 
States  and  the  South  American  countries  is  the  language.  I  think  that  in  the  future 
there  are  only  two  languages  to  be  spoken  in  the  commercial  world;  that  is,  the 
English  and  the  Spanish.  If  you  consider  that  there  are  about  sixty  millions  of 
Spanish-sjpeaking  people  in  the  South  American  countries,  and  also  in  the  north 
part,  from  Mexico  to  the  South ;  but  the  difference  between  Portuguese  and  Spanish 
is  so  great  that  really  I  think  the  intercourse  in  Brazil  will  also  be  in  Spanish. 
For  that  reason  I  think  if  you  try  to  learn  the  Spanish  for  that  useful  knowledge 
of  your  commerce  will  be  more  convincing.  I  think  Spanish  is  more  useful  than 
French.  French  is  very  nice  and  excellent  for  the  political  powers  or  social  inter- 
course; but  for  the  merchant  commercial  Spanish  will  be  one  of  the  principal  things 
that  you  may  try  to  get  in  your  own  personal  instruction. 

I  have  been  hearing  about  the  merchant  marine.  I  know,  because  I  have  been 
commissioned  by  my  Government  to  visit  most  of  the  yards  in  Europe.  I  have 
visited  all  the  large  shipyards  of  the  world,  I  may  say,  and  I  have  visited  also  the 
American  shipyards,  and  I  think  really  that  here  you  are  prepared  to  establish  at 
once,  if  you  like,  any  kind  of  a  merchant  marine.  Of  course,  the  hand  labor  will 
be  a  little  higher,  but  your  implements  are  so  new,  your  energy  to  produce  material 
is  so  great  that  I  think  if  you  will  understand,  immediately,  on  account  of  your 
industry  you  will  find  building  of  ships  as  good  as  you  like.  You  are  prepared  to 
build  very  good  ships  here,  and  if  the  American  yards  start  at  once  on  merchant 
ships,  you  can  put  out  in  fifteen  months  a  magnificent  fleet  of  merchant  steamers. 
The  hand  labor  for  a  man-of-war  is  different  from  that  of  the  merchant  ship.  In 
the  man-of-war,  the  ship  must  be  prepared  to  receive  certain  kinds  of  restraint,  and 
that  generally  you  never  have  in  the  merchant  ship.  For  that  reason  the  workman- 
ship of  the  man-of-war  is  very  expensive  to  make ;  the  ordinary  cargo  boat  or  carry- 
ing ship,  you  can  make  that  easy  and  correct  here.  You  have  some  material  to 
produce  in  one  month  what  they  produce  in  one  year  in  some  of  the  European 
countries.  For  that  reason  I  do  not  see  why  you  can  not  make  an  American  mer- 
chant marine. 

I  remember  in  our  school  in  Buenos  Aires  we  used  to  see  on  the  River 
Plata  some  very  fine  American  sailing  ships.  I  cannot  understand  now  why  we  do 

201 


not  see  many  nice  American  steamers ;  that  is,  American  ships,  conducted  by  Amer- 
ican captains  and  American  crews  and  everything,  but  now  we  do  not  see  one 
American  ship,  only  by  chance,  in  our  Argentine  ports.  For  that  reason  I  think  it 
all  depends  on  you.  I  am  impressed  with  the  great  energy  of  this  country  when 
I  see  a  sky-scraper  in  New  York  constructed  in  five  or  six  months.  I  do  not  there- 
fore see  why  you  cannot  build  ships  in  ten  months.  It  is  only  a  question  of  will, 
that  is  all. 

A  great  deal  has  been  said  regarding  Argentina,  but  none  of  the  gentlemen 
talked  about  Patagonian  Delta,  because  I  have  been  in  the  ocean  service  of  that  coast 
about  seven  or  nine  years  ago.  Patagonia  is  nicer  than  Canada.  You  have  there 
ahnost  any  winter  without  ice  and  snow ;  big  lakes,  high  mountains,  magnificent  ports, 
so  that  everything  is  prepared  to  take  the  produce  from  this  part  of  Patagonia  out 
to  the  sea.  We  have  got  in  one  place  an  oil  field ;  it  is  about  three  or  four  hundred 
yards  from  the  sea.  You  have  a  pipe  and  you  can  take  oil  for  your  tanks.  Pata- 
gonia is  undeveloped  yet.  You  can  build  up  a  population  and  develop  that  large 
country  into  a  magnificent  producing  place. 

On  this  point  my  only  idea  is  to  give  you  some  talks  regarding  the  facilities 
and  the  unity  of  the  Pan  American  idea  between  the  American  and  the  South  Amer- 
ican continent.  For  the  rest,  you  must  excuse  me  for  such  poor  speech. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  sure  we  are  very  grateful.  Would  any  one 
like  to  ask  Admiral  Garcia  any  question?  I  am  going  now  to  call  upon  a  man  who  is 
among  the  most  practical  of  those  attending  this  conference.  I  want  you  to  listen 
closely  to  what  he  says,  and  then  I  want  you  to  be  having  questions  to  ask  him, 
and  that  is  Mr.  F.  B.  Purdie,  who  has  had  a  great  deal  of  experience  in  Latin 
America;  for  a  long  time  he  was  R.  G.  Dun's  representative  in  Buenos  Aires.  He 
has  made  a  study  of  conditions  in  Pan  America,  and  he  has  come  on  especially  from 
St.  Joseph  to  be  here  to  attend  this  conference,  and  I  am  very  glad  to  introduce 
him.  After  he  has  finished  his  allotted  time,  then  you  are  going  to  fire  questions  at 
him. 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.   FRANCIS  B.  PURDIE,  OF  R.  G.  DUN  &  CO. 

Mr.  PURDIE  said: 

There  are  one  or  two  things  I  want  to  clear  up  before  I  make  a  series  of 
statements,  practically  beneficial,  I  hope.  I  do  not  want  you  to  ask  me  any  questions 
about  these  things.  That  is  why  I  have  prepared  it. 

As  to  the  conditions  regarding  commercial  travelers  in  South  America,  the 
paper  of  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  Tariff  Series  19,  as  published  in  a 
pamphlet,  will  give  you  the  exact  information  that  you  require  regarding  what  a 
traveler  has  to  pay  before  doing  business  in  any  country  in  South  America.  You 
will  probably  ask  me — I  am  pretty  sure  you  will — about  how  other  nations  sell  to  the 
Argentine  Republic.  I  am  talking  about  the  Argentine  Republic — the  question  is  too 
big  to  talk  about  any  other  country,  so  I  will  confine  myself  exclusively  to  that  Re- 
public. I  will  not  answer  any  questions,  but  I  am  prepared  to  give  information  to  any 
gentleman  who  desires  regarding  any  line  of  business — how  Germany,  Great  Britain, 
Belgium,  France,  Italy,  sell  and  what  credit  they  extend  to  the  Argentine  Republic. 

The  statement  was  made  yesterday,  and  I  do  not  like  to  pass  it  by  with- 
out saying  something  about  k,  that  is,  regarding  American  travelers  in  South 
America.  I  thought  it  was  rather  unfair  to  speak  of  the  average  American  traveler 
in  South  America  as  a  "peddler."  I  was  in  Buenos  Aires  a  good  many  years,  and  I 
have  been  eighteen  years  altogether  in  Latin  America:  and  in  all  that  time  I  saw 
only  two  American  travelers  that  I  could  say  were  peddlers.  They  were  good,  aver- 
age salesmen;  but,  don't  misunderstand  me— most  of  them  did  not  know  anything 
about  handling  trade  in  South  America,  but  they  were  good,  average,  decent  fellows, 
as  decent  as  you  are  meeting  in  the  United  States.  So,  don't  talk  about  their  being 
peddlers. 

Another  statement  was  made  yesterday— I  wish  the  gentleman  who  made  it 
was  here,  because  I  do  not  like  to  refer  to  it  in  his  absence— about  the  Americans 
in  Buenos  Aires  being  lower  class.  The  United  States  Steel  Products  Co.,  the  Gen- 
eral Electric  Co.,  J.  I.  Case,  special  machinery,  Avery  Plow  Co.,  R.  G.  Dun  &  Co.  and 
a  number  of  other  fairly  respectable  and  responsible  firms  have  their  representatives 
in  Buenos  Aires  as  managers,  general  managers  and  agents.  I  do  not  think  these  are 
the  institutions  that  send  out  inferior  men. 

202 


You  have  heard  a  good  deal  about  the  Argentine  of  late;  of  her  wonderful 
progress  and  her  riches.  All  who  have  spoken  or  written  on  this  subject  have  dwelt 
upon  the  fact  that  the  wealth  of  the  Argentine  is  in  her  soil,  in  her  great  farms,  which 
stretch  from  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  until  they  sink  into  the  waters  of  Magellan  Straits. 
The  brilliant  future  which  has  been  pictured  for  this  favored  land  is  made  to  be  de- 
pendent upon  the  proper  development  of  her  agricultural  resources;  upon  the  time 
when  her  myriad  virgin  leagues  shall  have  felt  the  kiss  of  the  plow  and  shall  have 
suckled  the  root  of  wheat  and  corn  and  the  other  life-sustaining  plants  with  which 
nature  rewards  the  sons  who  confide  in  her.  You  have  heard  all  this.  Have  you 
given  it  thought? 

For  the  volume  of  trade  done  by  her  merchants,  my  examinations  of  balance 
sheets  in  the  Argentine,  and  many  thousands  have  passed  through  my  hands,  have 
shown  me  that  there  is  a  greater  proportion  of  credit  extended  to  capital  invested 
than  in  any  country  I  have  had  experience  with.  That  is  because  Argentina  is  an 
agricultural  country.  It  is  necessary  to  carry  the  farmers  from  sowing  to  harvest, 
and  when  drouths,  or  frosts,  or  locusts  come  along,  as  is  only  too  frequently  the  case, 
the  farmers  must  be  carried  from  season  to  season.  The  burden  then  passes  from  the 
interior  merchants  to  the  importers  and  the  wholesalers,  and  from  them  to  the  sellers 
in  the  foreign  markets.  Under  such  conditions  you  will  realize  how  impossible  it  is 
for  the  importers  of  the  Argentine  to  have  extensive  dealings  with  any  nation  exact- 
ing cash  terms. 

If  credit  were  not  given,  and  long  credits,  too,  by  our  merchants  in  this  country 
to  the  agricultural  districts,  business  could  not  be  carried  on  and  the  great  crops  which 
constitute  our  chief  source  of  wealth  could  not  be  made. 

Americans  have  repeatedly  said  that  they  could  not  extend  credit  freely  to  a 
market  so  far  away.  If  they  do  not,  they  will  not  get  the  trade.  They  cannot  force 
the  Argentine  dealers  to  cripple  themselves  for  the  privilege  of  trading  here. 

European  markets  are  as  far  away  from  Buenos  Aires  as  is  New  York,  and 
Europeans  have  no  better  facilities  for  studying  the  markets  than  Americans  can  pro- 
vide for  themselves,  neither  have  they  means  of  securing  credit  information  which 
are  beyond  the  reach  of  our  merchants. 

One  of  the  chief  advantages  which  Europe  has  over  the  United  States  is  that 
her  vessels  can  deliver  cargoes  in  Buenos  Aires  from  15  to  45  days  quicker  than  ves- 
sels plying  from  New  York.  Two-thirds,  or  more,  of  the  vessels  sailing  from  New 
York  for  Buenos  Aires  carry  inflammables.  The  law  compels  such  cargoes  to  be  dis- 
charged in  La  Plata  before  the  vessel  can  go  to  Buenos  Aires.  You  must  provide  a 
remedy  for  this.  Beyond  the  fact  that  the  Argentine  people  are  accustomed  to  trading 
in  Europe,  I  know  of  no  insurmountable  obstacle  to  our  getting  the  trade.  We  have 
the  goods,  and  I  am  informed  that  our  prices  can  compete. 

The  story  is  being  told  over  and  over  again  just  now  of  our  great  increase  of 
trade  with  the  Argentine,  and  those  wonderful  percentages  which  take  no  account  of 
totals  are  being  fervently  dwelt  upon.  If  we  eliminate  agricultural  machinery  and 
implements,  petroleum  and  oils,  lumber  and  lumber  products,  all  pre-eminently 
American  products,  and  for  which,  in  the  main,  the  Argentines  themselves  have 
created  the  demand,  we  will  find  the  sales  ridiculously  small  in  the  general  lines 
where  we  meet  the  competition  of  Europe.  There  is  really  very  little  justification 
for  our  talk  about  American  trading  enterprise  when  we  refer  to  South  America. 

The  question  is  frequently  asked,  "Can  we  trade  safely  with  the  Argentine?" 
I  answer,  yes  ! 

You  need  not  expect  to  find  the  Argentine  merchant  a  shining  example  of  com- 
mercial probity;  he  is  as  human  as  the  rest  of  us,  and  more  shrewd  in  trading  than 
the  most  of  us.  The  honest  man  and  the  rascal  are  in  the  trade  of  Buenos  Aires  in 
about  the  same  proportion  as  you  will  find  them  in  New  York  or  Chicago.  The  dif- 
ference in  your  favor  will  be  that  your  trade  profits  will  be  greater  in  the  Argentine 
than  here. 

Your  greatest  handicap  is  that  you  have  not  properly  informed  yourselves  upon 
the  market.  You  have  been  too  unheeding  not  only  in  your  choice  of  the  men  to  per- 
sonally represent  you,  but  also,  and  to  a  very  much  greater  extent,  in  your  choice  of 
local  agents  or  representatives.  It  is  the  most  serious  error  you  are  making.  There 
are,  of  course,  exceptions,  some  splendid  exceptions,  and  I  would  like  to  enumerate 
them.  It  is  true  that  too  many  of  our  manufacturers  have  been  satisfied  with  sales  of 
$10,000  a  year  where,  if  they  had  been  properly  represented,  they  should  have  been 
$100,000  a  year. 

203 


Failures  occur  about  as  frequently  in  the  Argentine  as  elsewhere,  but  I  do  not 
believe  th.v  they  will  be  found  to  be  any  more  disastrous  than  at  home.  Bankrupt- 
cies are  in.requent  because  they  are  too  hurtful  to  both  debtor  and  creditor.  "Arrc- 
glos"  are  the  favorite  form  of  settlement ;  we  call  them  compromises  in  this  country. 
One  has  to  be  very  careful  before  accepting  statements  when  a  compromise  with  cred- 
itors is  sought ;  the  average  Argentine  trader  has  apparently  some  difficulty  in  distin- 
guishing between  Meum  and  Teum.  I  recall  an  incident  which  well  illustrates  this. 
A  little  over  a  year  ago  an  interior  merchant,  finding  himself  unable  to  meet  his  ma- 
turing obligations,  appealed  to  his  creditors  and  a  meeting  was  called  in  Buenos  Aires. 
The  son  of  the  merchant  was  present  at  the  meeting  in  representation  of  his  father, 
and  he  submitted  a  statement  of  the  assets  and  liabilities,  with  a  request  for  a  com- 
promise of  forty  cents  on  the  dollar.  The  creditors  examined  the  statement  and  found 
that  even  by  his  own  figures  he  was  well  able  to  pay  sixty  c-^nts,  and  they  so  informed 
the  son,  but  he  jumped  to  his  feet  and  indignantly  exclaimed:  "I  know  that  father 
can  pay  sixty  cents,  but  to  do  so  he  would  have  to  impair  his  own  capital,  and  he 
could  never  do  that." 

When  you  ask  down  there  if  a  merchant  has  failed,  you  will  be  told  that  he  has 
not,  even  though  he  may  have  made  several  "arreglos,"  but  it  is  not  called  a  failure 
unless  legally  declared  so. 

It  is  about  as  easy  today  to  get  credit  information  in  the  Argentine  as  it  is  in 
the  United  States ;  easier,  in  fact,  than  to  get  an  order. 

The  only  reason  I  can  find  why  the  United  States  has  not  a  larger  trade  in  the 
Argentine  and  in  South  America,  and  I  have  puzzled  over  the  question  a  good  deal,  is 
that  she  has  not  gone  after  it.  I  can  find  no  other  answer.  The  wonderful  enterprise 
which  is  so  characteristic  of  our  people  appears  to  have  been  entirely  lacking  in  deal- 
ings with  South  America. 

In  order  to  help  the  discussion  of  this  subject,  I  offer,  in  amplification  of  what 
I  have  already  said,  the  following  suggestions :  Before  you  can  sell  for  cash  you 
must  offer  better  goods  than  your  competitors ;  sell  at  lower  prices ;  know  precisely 
what  your  competitors  are  doing;  have  an  article  that  they  cannot  produce.  Before 
you  can  command  the  market  on  any  terms,  you  must  employ  experienced  salesmen ; 
treat  with  the  people  in  their  own  language ;  study  the  market ;  free  your  minds  from 
the  idea  that  South  Americans  do  not  know  what  they  want;  stop  employing  for- 
eigners to  represent  you  where  you  can  get  Americans ;  learn  that  courtesy,  tact  and 
gentle  breeding,  if  they  are  inherent  in  your  representative,  will  do  more  to  win  for 
you  in  the  Argentine,  or  in  any  Latin  American  country,  than  all  the  other  good 
qualities  your  salesman  may  possess.  In  order  to  secure  a  much  larger  trade  in  the 
Argentine  than  you  now  have,  it  is  not  needful  that  you  wait  for  American  banks; 
new  shipping  lines,  or  the  Panama  Canal. 

DIRECROR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  Gentlemen,  this  is  really  a  rare  opportunity,  that 
Mr.  Purdie  could  have  talked  to  us.  Now,  let  us  draw  him  out  by  a  few  questions 
before  we  call  on  Dr.  Rutter,  the  eminent  tariff  expert  of  the  Bureau  of  Manufac- 
tures, who  is  here  especially  to  tell  you  about  this  question  of  tariffs,  which  interests 
you  all. 

MR.  LEWIS:  Will  you  tell  us  something  about  the  trade-mark  laws  of  Argen- 
tine, which  I  think  of  great  importance  to  manufacturers  ? 

MR.  PURDIE  :     I  would  refer  to  our  consul. 

MR.  CHANDLER  :     Will  you  ask  the  question  again  ? 

MR.  LEWIS:  About  trade-mark  laws  of  Argentine,  and  also  the  registration 
of  trade  names  there. 

MR.  CHANDLER:     What  ought  you  to  do  to  register  one? 

MR.  LEWIS:  Whether  you  can  register  the  trade  names  of  an  article  there 
which  gives  you  title  to  that  name  covering  any  article,  so  no  one  else  can  sell  any- 
thing in  the  Argentine  Republic  or  introduce  it  there  under  that  name. 

MR.  CHANDLER  :  Do  not  allow  yourself  to  be  misinformed.  There  is  a  great 
misconception  all  through  this,  and  it  has  led  to  some  unjust  cricicisms  of  the  Argen- 
tine Republic  and  its  laws,  which  Mr.  Edward  B.  Moore  told  me  this  afternoon  he 
had  assisted  the  Arg<.  -tine  Government  in  framing.  I  am  very  glad,  indeed,  that 
you  asked  that  questioi  The  Argentine  patent  law  reads  something  like  this : 

"Applications  for  . -ade-marks  (consisting  of  figures  or  emblems)  must  be  ac- 
companied by  a  description  in  duplicate,  quoting  the  number  of  the  class  to  which 
the  application  refers,  as  given  in  the  detailed  list  to  be  found  in  the  Official  Decree 
dated  2d  June,  1903." 

204 


You  register  that  for  certain  specific  things,  all  articles  running  from  I  to  500. 
You  claim  bicycles;  therefore,  you  register  the  name  "bicycles,"  articles  41  to  46. 
You  have  registered  those  for  bicycles  only.  Your  next-door  neighbor  wants  to  put 
out  an  ice-cream  freezer.  He  goes  and  registers  claim  41  to  54;  in  that  way  it  can 
be  done. 

I  want  to  tell  a  specific  instance  about  this,  because  there  has  been  some  very 
unjustifiable  criticism.  A  well-known  swindler  got  hold  of  the  firm  trade  name  of 
an  American  automobile.  He  went  ahead  and  registered  everything  under  the  sun, 
which  he  got  another  swindler  to  put  into  the  Patent  Office.  The  firm  in  the  United 
States  wrote  down  to  us.  I  went  down  and  took  it  up  immediately  with  the  Chief  of 
the  Patent  Bureau  and  informed  him  why  the  man's  action  was  wrong,  and  that  his 
subordinate's  action  was  wrong.  He  immediately  took  it  up  with  the  firm  in  the 
United  States  and  had  the  action  of  the  previous  people  annulled;  and,  being  con- 
vinced that  the  manufacturer  in  Detroit,  a  very  large  concern,  was  in  the  right,  he 
granted  them  their  privileges  for  these  articles. 

A  large  number  of  registered  patent  articles,  with  names  and  addresses,  are  all 
on  file  in  the  Bureau  of  Manufactures,  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor;  and  if 
you  have  any  name  or  trade-mark  to  register  they  will  do  the  thing  for  you  for  $2.40 
in  United  States  gold  for  the  first  time,  the  patent  running,  10,  15  or  20  years. 

MR.  GORHAM  :  I  would  like  more  information  relative  to  registering  trade 
names  in  the  Argentine.  Is  it  possible  for  any  man  upon  the  street  to  register  a  trade 
name  for  a  manufactured  article  in  the  United  States  without  the  permission  or 
authorization  of  the  American  manufacturer  or  his  agent?  Anybody  can  do  it.  I 
have  done  it  myself. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :    Mr.  Purdie  says  that  is  correct. 

MR.  KELEHER  :  Our  company  lost  $10,000  that  way.  Somebody  registered  our 
trade-mark  "Holophane,"  and  said,  "You  better  pack  your  trunk  and  get  out,  because 
if  you  try  to  sell  anything  they  can  have  you  punished  in  some  way.  We  were  up 
against  the  problem  completely,  and  face  to  face  with  calling  it  some  other  name.  I 
called  on  these  merchants,  and  they  said,  "You  pay  us  $10,000  and  you  can  have  the 
trade-mark."  I  replied,  "You  may  be  legally  correct  in  your  demand,  but  in  the 
United  States  we  would  call  that  thievery."  He  said,  "That  is  all  right,  but  you  pay 
us,  or  we  don't  allow  you  to  use  that  trade-mark  here."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  did 
pay  for  it. 

MR.  PURDIE:  I  can  say  something  on  that  point,  that  most  of  the  important 
trade-marks  in  the  Argentine  that  have  been  stolen  in  the  way  you  mention  have  been 
stolen  by  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

MR.  KRAUSZ  :  When  I  went  down  to  Buenos  Aires  in  the  interest  of  a  certain 
business  I  had  heard  of  that  affair  in  regard  to  the  automobile  which  the  consul  just 
mentioned.  I  went  to  the  consul  and  informed  myself  of  the  necessity  of  registering 
my  own  trade-mark,  which  I  did.  I  found  it  a  very  simple  thing.  Our  consul 
charged  a  fee  of  two  pounds,  in  addition  to  the  fees  the  Government  demanded.  Alto- 
gether it  cost  about  $40.  It  was  a  very  simple  thing  to  do,  and  I  would  advise  anyone 
to  do  it,  because  they  are  very  lax  in  that  regard  down  in  the  Argentine. 

MR.  HERBERT  M.  DAVISON,  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  Worcester, 
Mass. :  I  would  like  to  ask  the  gentleman  a  question.  Did  I  understand  him  to  say 
that  he  would  advise  us  to  sell  better  goods  at  lower  prices  than  our  competitors? 

MR.  PURDIE  :     If  you  insist  on  cash  terms  at  all  times,  yes. 

MR  DAVISON  :  What  is  the  opportunity  for  concerns  that  desire  to  sell  better 
goods  at  higher  prices? 

MR.  PURDIE  :  To  properly  introduce  them  and  show  the  people  down  there 
that  they  require  them  and  that  they  must  have  them. 

MR.  PURDIE:     I  believe  you  are  correct  there. 

MR.  DAVISON  :  Is  it  not  true  that  the  motto,  "Better  goods  at  higher  prices" 
is  better  than  "Inferior  goods  at  a  lower  price?" 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  want  to  say  on  that  point  Mr.  Davison  spoke 
on,  that,  in  my  experience  as  minister  to  four  of  these  different  countries,  I  have 
found  that  exactly  the  same  rule  obtains  as  it  does  in  this  country.  At  Buenos  Aires 
I  saw  the  representatives  of  expensive  lines  of  manufacture  come  in  there  and  sell 
them  to  that  class  of  merchants  who  wish  to  deal  in  them,  just  as  they  do  in  New 
York.  I  saw  the  man  who  would  furnish  a  ten-cent  store  come  along  and  supply  that 
kind.  It  is  only  a  question  of  getting  into  touch  with  the  business  men  of  those  coun- 
tries, exactly  the  same  way  that  you  come  into  touch  with  the  business  men  of  the 
United  States.  Certain  men  want  your  high-class  goods,  and  certain  men  will  want 

205 


vour  cheaper  goods;  and  those  men,  in  their  turn,  have  their  constituencies.  I  can 
take  vou  in  one  store  where  women  go  in  who  are  willing  to  pay  any  price  for 
the  clothes  they  buy;  walk  two  or  three  hundred  yards  and  there  they  do  not  want 
anything  except  at  the  lower  price,  just  as  prevails  in  New  York  and  Washington. 

MR  PURDIE-  One  point,  regarding  introducing  superior  articles  at  a  higher 
price  I  would  like  to  mention :  I  have  known  exact  cases  of  articles  introduced  into 
'the  Argentine  Republic  by  certain  firms  there,  who  establish  a  trade-mark  thoroughly, 
so  that  the  people  got  to  know  it  and  called  for  it.  That  same  firm  was  later  able  to 
oroduce  a  superior  grade  of  the  same  goods  and  were  able  to  offer  it  at  even  less 
than  the  original  price.  They  had  extreme  difficulty  in  convincing  the  people  of  that, 
so  accustomed  were  they  to  the  trade-mark  on  the  other  lines. 

MR  COFFIN  :  I  want  to  make  a  statement  and  ask  a  question  about  the  possi- 
bility of  anyone  in  the  street  registering  a  trade-mark  in  Argentina.  I  know  posi- 
tively that  it  can  be  done  for  all  articles,  if  the  applicant  asks  for  it  to  be  registered 
for  all  articles.  I  am  very  glad  to  hear  from  Mr.  Chandler  that  that  is  illegal,  and  did 
I  understand  Mr.  Chandler  to  say  that  was  illegal  in  all  instances  ? 

MR.  CHANDLER:     The  trade  name  for  all  classes  of  industrial  articles? 

MR.  COFFIN:  Is  that  illegal  ipso  facto? 

MR.  CHANDLER:  That  is  to  say,  the  registered  name  claimed  thereunder,  that 
is  illegal.  I  was  told  so  by  the  chief  of  the  Patent  Bureau  of  the  Ministery  of  Agri- 
culture. You  can  consult  the  law  on  that  subject  either  on  the  ground  floor  of  this 
building  or  in  the  department  here. 

MR.  COFFIN  :  I  want  to  ask  the  Chairman,  or  anyone  else  informed,  whether 
the  Argentine  Congress  has  ratified  the  patent  agreement  passed  at  the  last  Pan 
American  Conference;  and,  if  not,  what  are  the  prospects  for  its  ratification? 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  think,  Mr.  Coffin,  that  a  great  deal  is  dependent 
on  the  attitude  of  our  own  Congress  on  that  thing. 

MR.  COFFIN:   In  what  way? 

MR.  PURDIE  :  The  influence  or  action  we  take  on  the  matter  will  have  a  bene- 
ficial effect.  I  do  not  think  any  of  those  countries  will  enter  into  it  unless  they 
know  the  United  States  is  going  to  do  it.  Did  you  mean  this  Pan  American  Con- 
gress here? 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:    Oh,  no;  the  United  States  Congress. 

MR.  COFFIN  :  I  would  suggest  that  this  Convention  go  on  record  strongly 
recommending  that. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  It  is  against  our  rules  of  order.  We  cannot 
adopt  any  resolutions  regarding  policies  of  government,  but  I  think  the  chances  are 
favorable  for  the  ratification  by  Argentina,  because  the  delegates  of  Argentina  at 
that  Conference  signed  their  names  to  that  agreement,  and  as  they  were  right  there, 
able  to  consult  with  their  own  ministers  of  State,  it  is  not  probable  they  would  have 
signed  it  unless  they  felt  they  could  ratify  it. 

MR.  ELMER  H.  ALLEN,  of  the  C.  D.  Edgarton  Mfg.  Co.,  Shirley,  Mass. :  I  want 
to  say,  in  reference  to  quality,  that  this  is  the  place  where  we  ought  to  be  willing  to 
give  personal  experience  and  practical  suggestions.  I  believe  that  quality  counts.  I 
think  we  ought  to  talk  of  the  quality  we  are  making,  without  going  into  advertising. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Is  that  a  question?  Because  this  afternoon  we 
are  to  have  a  general,  open  session,  and  unless  it  is  a  question  I  wish  you  would 
postpone  it. 

MR.  ALLEN:  No,  except  the  gentleman  asked  whether  better  goods  at  better 
prices  were  advantageous.  I  say,  Yes. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Your  chairman  wants  to  be  just  as  liberal  as  he 
can.  Is  there  any  other  question  now,  direct? 

QUESTION  :  I  want  to  ask,  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  three  months  is  the  time 
limit  within  which  you  can  prevent  registration  of  a  trademark  by  another  party 
under  some  international  agreement  on  the  subject  of  trademarks?  That  is  true  of 
Europe,  I  know;  certain  countries,  under  some  treaty  agreement  with  the  United 
States,  I  believe. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT-:  Mr.  Purdie,  we  are  very  grateful  to  you.  Mr. 
Purdie  will  be  glad  to  answer  any  questions. 

I  now  take  very  great  pleasure  in  introducing  Dr.  Rutter,  of  the  Bureau  of 
Manufactures,  of  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor. 

206 


ADDRESS  OF  DR.  FRANK  R.  RUTTER,  OF  THE  BUREAU 

OF  MANUFACTURES,  DEPARTMENT  OF 

COMMERCE  AND  LABOR 

Doctor  RUTTER  said: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  It  is  very  gratifying  to  the  representa- 
tives of  the  Bureau  of  Manufactures  here  to  find  that  the  report  issued  some  years 
ago  on  "Commercial  Travelers  in  Foreign  Countries"  is  of  practical  service  to  you. 
I  wish  just  to  say  a  word  in  regard  to  that  report.  There  have  been  certain  modi- 
fications since  the  report  was  issued,  especially  some  changes  in  the  fees  in  Argentina, 
and  on  application  to  the  Bureau  the  changes  will  be  communicated  to  you. 

The  tariff  work  of  the  Bureau  of  Manufactures,  which  was  touched  upon  just 
briefly  by  Mr.  Baldwin  in  his  more  general  address  yesterday,  is  confined,  in  the 
first  place  exclusively  to  the  tariffs  of  foreign  countries;  and,  in  the  second  place, 
I  am  saying  what  we  do  not  do ;  in  the  third  place,  all  questions  of  tariff  politics  or 
tariff  diplomacy  are  left  untouched.  We  aim  to  give  the  fullest  possible  information 
from  every  possible  source  of  what  tariff  rates  are  in  effect  in  foreign  countries, 
of  the  changes  in  those  rates,  of  the  customs  formalities  that  are  required  and  of 
supplemental  duties  that  are  charged ;  and  it  is  our  aim  to  publish  those  results  either 
by  letter  to  the  personal  inquirers  or  by  formal  reports  in  the  subjects  of  the  articles 
we  think  are  of  more  general  interest  -in  the  way  that  will  bring  the  information 
most  promptly  and  most  speedily  to  those  who  are  concerned.  A  question  was 
asked  yesterday  which  I  answered  incompletely.  I  was  asked  as  to  the  admission 
of  American  products  into  South  American  markets,  and,  mentioning  the  prefer- 
ential granted  by  Brazil,  I  failed  to  state  what  is  known  to  every  member  of  the 
Conference — the  fact  that  all  articles  from  the  United  States  are  admitted  into  Cuba 
at  a  percentage  reduction  from  the  regular  tariff  rate. 

A  body  of  law  is  a  growth,  not  a  creation.  Differences  in  sentiment  and  his- 
tory lead  unconsciously  and  inevitably  to  variations  in  the  form  as  well  as  the  sub- 
stance of  laws. 

On  the  first  examination  of  the  tariffs  of  many  countries,  one  is  unable  to  under- 
stand the  maze  of  detail  through  which  it  is  necessary  to  feel  one's  way  in  order  to 
ascertain  simply  the  rate  of  duty  on  some  article.  It  is  only  when  the  study  is  car- 
ried back,  and  the  reason  for  the  requirement  is  traced  to  its  source,  that  what  at  first 
appears  to  be  meaningless  complexity  is  seen  to  be  merely  the  natural  result  of  the 
enactment  of  law  after  law  without  attempt  at  unification. 

The  tariff  systems  of  Latin  America  are  constructed  in  different  ways.  The 
peculiarly  South  American  form  of  tariff,  as  represented  by  that  of  Argentina  and 
several  other  countries,  is  one  of  ad  valorem  duties  calculated  on  fixed  official  valua- 
tions. This  system  is  in  force  nowhere  outside  of  South  America;  its  object  is  to 
retain  that  general  equilibrium  between  the  value  and  the  duty  which  affords  the 
chief  justification  of  every  ad  valorem  duty,  while  avoiding  the  difficulty  and  uncer- 
tainty of  a  separate  appraisement  for  each  importation.  Under  that  system  a  revision 
of  the  tariff  may  be  accomplished  by  amendment  of  the  "valuation  tariff"  without  any 
change  whatever  in  the  ad-valorem  rates  of  duty  fixed  by  law.  The  system  is  used 
less  generally  than  formerly.  It  was  abandoned  in  the  new  Peruvian  tariff  that  went 
into  effect  last  July  and  likewise  in  the  proposed  tariff  of  Uruguay. 

The  Brazilian  system  contains  specific  duties,  accompanied,  however,  by  the 
corresponding  ad  valorem  rate ;  from  these  data  the  valuation  which  serves  as  a  basis 
for  the  surtax  may  be  calculated. 

In  Venezuela  and  some  other  countries  the  tariff  law  is  short,  consisting  of  a 
separate  duty  on  each  of  nine  classes.  The  difficulty  is  to  ascertain  under  which  of 
these  general  classes  the  article  in  question  falls  and  a  tariff  of  539  numbers  is  neces- 
sary for  this  purpose.  In  Panama  and  some  of  the  British  colonies  straight  ad 
valorem  duties  are  in  vogue.  In  Salvador  the  tariff  gives  an  "Aforo,"  which  originally 
appears  to  have  represented  the  duty,  but  has  now  become  a  simple  logarithm  from 
which,  by  mathematical  formula,  the  duty  may  be  calculated. 

In  addition  to  variations  in  system,  the  currency  in  which  the  duties  are  levied 
adds  to  the  complexity  of  the  tariffs.  In  one  country  the  duty  is  levied  in  silver;  in 
one  country,  while  nominally  in  gold,  paper  money  is  accepted  at  a  fixed  rate ;  in  three 
countries  a  mixed  gold  and  paper  method  of  payment  is  prescribed ;  in  one  there  is  a 
mixed  gold  and  silver  method  of  payment,  while  in  the  majority  of  American  coun- 

207 


tries  gold  or  its  equivalent  in  national  currency  is  now  required.    In  some  cases  the 
proportion  of  gold  and  silver  or  gold  and  paper  vary  for  different  items. 

Surtaxes,  some  of  which  represent  charges  for  actual  services,  _  while  others 
owe  their  origin  merely  to  the  need  of  increased  revenue,  _  are  prescribed  in  many 
cases  and  are  frequently  changed  as  temporary  conditions  arise. 

These  three  sources  of  variation  result  in  a  complexity  that  confines  the  use 
of  many  of  the  tariffs  exclusively  to  the  initiated.  A  few  instances  may  perhaps  make 
clearer  the  difficulties  that  have  to  be  met.  In  Brazil  a  tariff  commission  has  been 
working  for  some  years,  and  proposes,  among  other  reforms,  a  simplification  in  the 
method  of  levying  duties.  At  the  present  time  the  system  is  exceedingly  complex. 
Stfme  duties  are  payable  one-half  in  gold  and  one-half  in  paper,  while  in  the  case  of 
some  articles  only  35  per  cent,  is  required  in  gold  and  65  per  cent,  in  paper.  A  surtax 
of  2  per  cent,  in  gold  must  be  added,  based  on  the  official  valuation.  The  valuation 
does  not  appear  in  the  tariff,  but  must  be  ascertained  by  comparison  of  the  duty  and 
the  ad  valorem  equivalent.  In  the  case  of  strictly  ad  valorem  duties,  the  invoice  value 
is  first  converted  into  milreis  at  the  rate  of  24  cents  for  each  milreis,  and  the  duty  is 
then  payable  at  the  rate  of  40  or  44  cents  per  milreis.  The  result  is  that  a  nominal  ad 
valorem  rate  of  55  per  cent,  works  out  at  over  100  per  cent,  in  actual  practice. 

In  Salvador  the  duty  is  payable  partly  in  gold  and  partly  in  silver.  The  propor- 
tions were  so  fixed  in  the  beginning  that  the  two  parts  would  add  to  100  per  cent.,  but 
from  time  to  time  the  amount  payable  in  gold  and  that  payable  in  silver  have  been 
changed,  so  that  now  37  per  cent,  of  the  rate  given  in  the  tariff  must  be  paid  in  gold 
and  77  per  cent,  in  paper,  a  total  of  114  per  cent.  Surtaxes,  customs  and  consular  fees 
and  storage  charges  must  be  added  before  the  amount  of  the  actual  duty  can  be  ascer- 
tained. 

The  difficulties  incident  to  the  present  tariff  systems  have  been  shown  in  suffi- 
cient detail.  What  steps  should  be  taken  to  obviate  them  ? 

There  is  no  need  of  uniform  rates  of  duty.  Differences  in  industrial  develop- 
ment, in  economic  theory,  made  that  unobtainable,  even  if  desired.  But  a  simpler 
system  than  most  of  those  now  in  force  seems  to  be  no  unreasonable  demand,  and 
should  receive  the  most  active  support  of  all  persons  interested  in  the  tariff,  each  in 
his  own  country.  With  simpler  tariff  systems  the  need  of  more  firmly  established 
currency  systems  goes  hand  in  hand.  At  every  revision  of  the  tariff  the  effort  should 
be  made  to  cut  off  every  surtax  and  to  adopt  a  single  rate  of  duty,  payable  in  a  cur- 
rency not  subject  to  fluctuations.  This  was  done  in  the  recently  proposed  revision  of 
the  tariff  of  Uruguay,  which,  however,  according  to  the  latest  advices,  seems  unlikely 
to  be  enacted  in  its  present  form.  The  tariff  revision  commission  of  Brazil,  which  has 
been  carrying  on  its  investigations  for  a  number  of  years,  is  said  to  be  planning  a 
similar  reform  in  the  tariff  of  that  country.  The  rates  fixed,  whether  high  or  low, 
should  at  least  not  be  misleading. 

By  concerted  action  there  is  no  reason  why  the  reform  should  not  go  a  step 
farther.  A  uniform  classification  of  articles  would  not  seem  to  be  beyond  the  scope 
of  international  agreement  in  this  day  of  international  conventions.  Such  an  agree- 
ment need  not  embrace  at  first  more  than  a  few  countries,  and  might  well  be  inaugu- 
rated by  the  countries  of  the  New  World,  now  so  haopily  united  in  the  Pan  American 
Union,  which  is  no  more  a  bureau  of  the  United  States  Government  than  it  is  a 
bureau  of  the  Argentine  or  the  Brazilian  Government. 

Some  time  ago  I  had  occasion  to  examine  a  treatise  on  the  French  tariff,  writ- 
ten by  a^  German,  or  a  treatise  on  the  German  tariff  by  a  French  writer,  I  am  not  cer- 
tain which.  In  order  to  make  a  comparison  of  the  rates  in  the  two  countries,  the 
writer  discarded^  both  classifications  and  presented  a  schedule  of  his  own,  which  he 
considered  superior  to  both.  On  the  part  of  one  individual  this  action  may  seem  pre- 
sumptuous, but  I  see  no  reason  why  such  a  schedule  might  not  with  advantage  be 
drawn  up  by  a  commission  of  experts  officially  designated  by  the  several  Govern- 
ments. The  establishment  of  a  uniform  freight  classification  points  the  way  to  a 
uniform  classification  in  customs  tariffs. 

The  signs  are  hopeful  at  least  for  some  simplification  of  tariff  matters.  In  the 
".rst  place,  customs  legislation  is  now  receiving  study  more  and  more  on  the  economic 
side  and  from  the  international  point  of  view.  The  tariff  experts  of  each  country  are 
examining ^thc  systems  of  other  countries,  and  as  a  result  of  their  comparative  study 
a  fund  of  information  is  made  available  to  all  concerned.  With  the  realization  that 
simpler  methods  will  yield  precisely  the  same  revenue  and  the  same  degree  of  protec- 
tion to  native  industries  such  methods  will  undoubtedly  in  the  end  prevail. 

208 


In  the  second  place,  nations  are  growing  less  jealous  of  their  so-called  sovereign 
rights.  Just  ten  years  ago  Russia  protested  against  the  countervailing  duties  on  sugar 
imposed  by  the  United  States,  and  a  little  later  against  those  imposed  under  the 
Brussels  Sugar  Convention,  on  the  ground  that  its  internal  legislation  was  a  matter 
simply  of  national  concern,  and  refused  to  become  a  party  to  that  convention  because 
of  unwillingness  to  submit  such  matters  to  international  decision.  Today  Russia  is 
a  party  to  the  convention,  although  exempted  from  some  of  the  stipulations.  Some 
countries  still  insist  on  full  tariff  autonomy,  and  refuse  to  conclude  treaties  that  bind 
any  rates  for  a  term  of  years.  Nevertheless,  it  is  coming  to  be  realized  that  the  right 
of  a  country  to  change  duties  at  will,  whenever  its  strictly  national  interests  may  dic- 
tate, is  of  less  economic  benefit  than  the  certainty  that  the  rates  in  the  tariff  of  some 
foreign  country,  in  which  it  is  peculiarly  interested,  will  remain  fixed.  The  belief 
seems  to  be  gradually  gaining  ground  that  fair  treatment  abroad  in  adequate  meas- 
ure must  be  purchased  by  concession  in  return. 

The  more  thorough  study  of  the  tariff  systems  in  all  America,  which  has  re- 
cently been  inaugurated  by  the  Pan  American  Union,  will,  it  is  hoped,  bring  out  the 
urgent  need  of  greater  clearness  and  simplicity  in  customs  laws  and  crystallize  the 
sentiment  in  favor  of  such  reform.  Its  findings  will  be  the  judgment  of  delegates 
commissioned  by  the  countries  affected,  not  the  criticisms  of  any  outside  authority, 
and  will  doubtless  receive  the  recognition  that  they  deserve. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Will  you  ask  any  questions  of  Dr.  Rutter  on 
the  tariff? 

MR.  GORHAM  :  As  to  the  tariff  collected  in  Brazil,  I  understand  that,  sup- 
posing the  duty  of  100  milreis  charged  upon  a  certain  article,  35  milreis  is  payable  in 
gold.  Does  that  mean  that  35  milreis  paper  is  exchanged  into  the  corresponding 
value  in  gold,  which  would  be  considerable  higher,  and  then  added  to  the  remaining 
65  per  cent,  paper? 

DR.  RUTTER:  If  the  duty  is  1000  milreis,  then  350  milreis,  at  the  fixed  gold 
value  of  27  pence  per  milreis,  must  be  paid ;  in  addition  to  that  650  milreis  paper 
money. 

But  there  are  other  articles  on  which  it  is  different ;  one-half  in  gold  and  one- 
half  in  paper,  so  that  on  some  articles  you  would  have  to  pay  500  milreis  27  pence 
in  gold,  and  500  milreis  only  in  paper  money;  but,  in  addition  to  that,  a  surtax  is 
imposed  of  2  per  cent,  in  gold  on  the  official  valuation.  • 

The  official  valuation  has  to  be  obtained  by  a  calculation.  The  tariff  shows  a 
certain  duty.  It  gives  another  column  showing  that  that  duty  is  supposed  to  be 
60,  50  or  30  per  cent.  Consequently,  with  those  two  factors  you  can  ascertain  what 
the  valuation  was  on  that  article,  and  2  per  cent,  surtax  is  charged. 

Further,  if  the  duty,  in  the  case  of  Brazil,  is  an  ordinary  ad  valorem  duty — 
that  is  to  say,  if  there  is  no  valuation  in  the  tariff,  and  the  duty  calls  for,  let  us  say, 
60  per  cent. — the  foreign  value  is  really  increased,  so  that  the  duty  works  out  at 
about  no  per  cent.  That  is,  for  the  purpose  of  converting  the  invoices  to  the  value 
in  milreis  they  count  milreis  as  only  equal  to  12  pence,  or  24  cents ;  but  when  you 
come  to  pay  duty  on  it  you  have  to  pay  for  each  milreis,  that  is  on  the  35  and  65  per 
cent,  basis,  about  40  cents  for  each  milreis.  If  on  the  50  and  50  basis,  then  you  have 
to  pay  about  44  cents. 

So  that  the  result  is  to  make  the  ad  valorem  rate  very  much  higher  than  the 
rate  printed  in  the  tariff. 

MR.  GORHAM  :  I  notice,  as  a  rule,  there  is  in  the  Peruvian  tariff  a  valuation 
placed  of  so  many  soles  per  kilogram ;  that  is  to  say,  that  the  article  is  weighed,  and 
then  if  it  weighs  10  kilograms,  and  there-  is  a  rate  of  one  sol  per  kilo,  the  value  of 
that  article  collected  will  be  10  soles.  I  would  like  to  know  if  that  system  is  in  vogue 
in  any  country  of  South  America. 

DR.  RUTTER  :  That  system  is,  I  think,  no  longer  in  vogue ;  since  last  July  a 
new  tariff  has  been  enacted  which  gives  just  the  duties,  without  any  legal  valuations. 

The  word  aforos  is  always  misleading,  meaning,  I  believe,  strictly  "rates."  I 
am  not  certain  as  to  my  Spanish,  but  I  think  the  word  means  rate.*  It  is  sometimes 
applied  to  the  valuation  rate  and  sometimes  to  the  duty  rate,  and,  as  I  understand 
it,  beginning  with  the  first  of  last  July  the  duty  in  Peru  is  a  specific  duty.  The 
system  that  you  describe  is  that  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  Chile,  Bolivia  and 
Paraguay.  I  think  those  are  the  only  countries. 

QUESTIONER  :  On  account  of  the  high  rate  of  duty,  in  some  cases,  take  Brazil, 
for  example,  it  seems  to  be  more  or  less  a  practice  of  selling  agents  to  request 
manufacturers  to  declare  some  arbitrary  valuation. 

*Aforos— Appraisement.  209 


*  5  5,OOO,OOO. 


?AkK  AMERICAN  UKIOK 

WasK.D.C. 


UK1TED  STATES 
*  5,9  23,34:0 


DR.  RUTTER:   Lower  than  the  real  value? 

QUESTION  :  Than  the  invoice  value.  Now,  what  is  the  attitude  of  the 
Brazilian  Government  in  a  case  of  that  kind? 

DR.  RUTTER  :  I  have  no  means  of  knowing  as  to  that  matter.  In  connection 
with  the  point  I  was  speaking  of,  whatever  value  you  declare  will  be  really  increased 
by  their  method  of  valuing  the  dollar  in  terms  of  milreis.  And  it  is  possibly  to  offset 
that  tendency  to  increase  the  value  that  the  commission  merchant  gives  you  the  advice 
that  he  does. 

MR.  PARKER:    They  fine  you  double  the  duty. 

MR.  FOWLER:  Fine  you  double  the  duty,  and  I  would  say  in  answer  to  the 
question  of  the  gentleman  that  this  appraisement  is  designed  especially  to  frustrate 
the  attempt  to  under-value  goods,  because  the  value  is  so  much  per  kilogram  on  the 
net  or  gross  weight,  the  subterfuge  or  under-declaring  of  the  value  is  of  no  help. 

DR.  RUTTER:  Precisely — it  is  to  get  rid  of  the  defects  that  accompany  every 
ad  valorem  system.  It  makes  the  duty  practically  a  specific  duty. 

MR.  MANNING:  In  that  connection,  may  I  state  that  in  Venezuela  no  atten- 
tion is  paid  to  the  valuations,  with  the  exception  of  four  or  five  articles,  and  the 
general  habit  of  the  European  exporter  to  Venezuela  is  to  lower  his  valuation,  be- 
cause of  the  commission  charge  which  is  on  the  value  of  the  goods  for  clearing 
them  through  the  custom  house,  made  by  the  commission  of  the  importers ;  and 
that  is  one  of  the  little  tricks  I  spoke  of  in  my  talk  the  other  day,  that  the  European 
exporter  has  learned  in  doing  business  in  many  places  in  South  America,  where 
the  duties  are  purely  specific. 

MR.  GORHAM  :  Please  answer  the  question  more  fully  about  placing  the  value 
lower  on  the  invoice  in  order  to  obtain  reduction  in  the  amount  of  duty.  All 
goods  sent  into  Brazil  have  to  be  placed  upon  a  consular  invoice,  and  the  Brazilian 
government  will  take  the  value  upon  that  consular  invoice  as  being  absolutely  true 
in  every  respect ;  and  it  is  up  to  the  manufacturer  and  the  consul  here  to  fix  all 
values.  The  consul  certifies  that  invoice  true  in  every  particular,  and  the  Brazilian 
government  accepts  it. 

DR.  RUTTER:     Is  there  no  possible  revision  on  the  part  of  the  government? 

MR.  GORHAM  :     I  understand  not. 

MR.  RAY  :     I  think  the  consul  certifies  that  he  believes  it  to  be  true. 

MR.  FOWLER:  I  would  further  add  that  the  consul  of  the  country  is  entitled 
to  demand  the  production  of  the  original  bill  of  the  manufacturer  before  he  will 
certify. 

MR.  GORHAM  :  I  think  there  must  be  some  sanction  to  this  thing.  We  have 
been  requested  to  do  that,  not  only  by  local  agents,  but  also  by  most  of  the  experi- 
enced export  houses  to  declare  an  arbitrary  valuation,  and  we  have  declined  to  do 
it  up  to  the  present. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :    We  are  very  grateful  to  Dr.  Rutter. 

I  want  you  to  try  to  get  back  as  soon  this  afternoon  as  possible,  and  we  will 
try  and  make  things  hum  in  the  short  time  remaining. 

Thereupon,  at  12.40  o'clock  P.  M.,  the  Conference  took  a  recess  until  2  o'clock 
this  afternoon. 

FRIDAY  AFTERNOON 

The  Conference  was  called  to  order  by  the  Director  General  at  2:15  o'clock 
p.  m. 

MR.  PETERS:  I  rise  primarily  to  thank  Mr.  Barrett  for  having  given  one  of 
us  from  Kansas  City  an  opportunity  to  be  enlightened  as  we  have  been  in  this  mag- 
nificent conference.  We  in  the  middle  west  need  education,  especially  education  in 
this  line ;  and  if  Mr.  Barrett  could  in  some  way  bring  out  to  us,  in  our  own  territory, 
some  of  his  experts  and  some  of  the  Government  experts  and  some  of  his  drawings 
and  plans,  into  our  own  district,  it  would  be  appreciated,  and  he  would  receive  a 
kingly  welcome  from  our  town. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :     We  may  try  that  another  year. 

I  now  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  Mr.  Caswell  A.  Mayo,  Ph.G.,  editor 
of  the  American  Druggist,  and  of  another  publication,  which  is  the  organ  of  the 
drug  trade  throughout  Latin  America. 

211 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  CASWELL  A.  MAYO,  PH.  G.,  EDITOR  OF 

RE  VISTA  AMERICANA  DE  FARMACIA 

Y  MEDICINA 

Mr.  MAYO  said : 

It  is  very  kind  of  the  Director  to  think  of  giving  my  good  old  English  name 
the  true  Spanish  pronunciation,  Mio.  When  they  showed  pictures  of  Avenue  de 
Mayo,  a  gentleman  sitting  next  to  me  said :  "Is  that  your  place  ?" 

The  publication  to  which  the  Director  has  referred,  the  "Revista  Americana 
de  Farmacia  y  Medicina,"  deals  with  a  particular,  rather  limited,  clientele,  that  of 
medicinal  products.  The  proprietary  medicine  industry  of  the  United  States  has 
reached  that  point  where  they  must  reach  out.  They  have  supplied  all  our  eighty  or 
ninety  millions  with  pills,  powders  and  potions,  reaching  to  South  America  and 
building  up  a  business  down  there. 

In  order  to  make  a  fair  estimate  of  the  opportunities  for  trade  with  the  Latin 
Americas  in  medicinal  and  pharmaceutical  products,  it  is  necessary  to  consider  the 
somewhat  anomalous  conditions  existing  in  those  countries  as  regards  the  develop- 
ment of  medicine  and  pharmacy.  We  are  prone  to  think  of  the  Latin  Americas 
as  being  undeveloped  in  somewhat  the  same  sense  as  was  the  United  States,  say 
sixty  years  ago.  This  is  only  partly  true.  The  resources  of  the  country  are  unde- 
veloped commercially,  and  among  the  lower  classes  there  is  in  many  countries  a 
greater  percentage  of  illiterates,  but  in  the  higher  walks  of  life  the  development  has 
kept  pace  with  that  of  Europe.  Thus  we  find  that  many  of  the  physicians  and  not 
a  few  pharmacists  have  studied  in  the  best  schools  of  Europe.  In  fact  the  general 
educational  equipment  of  the  average  pharmacist  of  the  Latin  Americas  is  probably 
superior  to  that  of  the  pharmacists  of  the  United  States,  and  what  might  be  called 
the  cultural  status  of  the  physician  is  fully  as  high,  if  not  higher,  than  that  of  the 
practitioner  in  this  country,  though  his  technical  schooling,  except  where  he  has 
studied  in  Europe,  may  not  be  so  good.  These  facts  have  an  important  bearing 
upon  the  export  opportunities  offered  for  medicinal  products.  From  them  we  deduce 
that  the  masses  of  the  people  have  yet  to  go  through  what  may  be  termed  the  patent 
medicine  era  of  selfmedication,  from  which  the  United  States  is  just  beginning  to 
emerge.  On  the  other  hand  the  products  offered  to  the  physicians  and  pharmacists 
must  conform  in  every  respect  to  the  highest  requirements  of  modern  scientific 
medicine. 

The  medical  and  pharmaceutical  journals  of  France,  and,  in  certain  countries, 
of  Germany  and  of  Italy,  are  quite  generally  read  by  physicians  and  pharmacists  of 
the  Latin  Americas  and  through  them  the  readers  are  kept  informed  concerning 
medical  progress  throughout  the  world.  But  at  the  same  time,  the  readers  become 
familiar  with  the  medicinal  preparations  of  Europe.  When  they  read  clinical  reports 
of  results  obtained  by  the  use  of  some  particular  preparation,  they  naturally  prescribe 
the  same  preparation.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  it  is  highly  important  that  the  physi- 
cians and  pharmacists  of  the  Latin  Americas  should  be  supplied  with  medical  and 
pharmaceutical  literature  emanating  from  the  United  States,  in  which,  naturally, 
references  will  be  made  to  products  prepared  according  to  the  standards  prevailing 
in  this  country.  Moreover,  the  leaders  in  medicine  and  pharmacy  having  been 
either  taught  or  influenced  by  European  ideas,  are  prone  to  underestimate  the  scien- 
tific development  of  medicine  in  this  country.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  publication 
of  a  scientific  journal  devoted  to  medicine  and  pharmacy,  printed  in  correct  Spanish, 
is  expected  to  be  of  benefit  to  every  American  manufacturer  of  medicinal  products. 
This  journal,  the  Revista  Americana  de  Farmacia  y  Medicina,  of  which  I  have  the 
honor  to  be  the  editor,  will,  it  is  hoped,  help  to  dispel  the  erroneous  idea  held  by 
many  Latin  Americans  regarding  the  lack  of  scientific  attainments  in  the  United 
States. 

The  publication  of  a  Spanish  edition  of  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia,  the 
legal  standard  for  drugs  and  medicines  in  the  United  States,  has  also  helped  us  in 
the  esteem  of  the  physicians  and  pharmacists  to  the  south  of  us. 

But  the  superior  education  of  these  pharmacists  has  been  along  cultural  and 
scientific,  rather  than  commercial  lines.  He  is  to  a  large  extent  an  individualist  in 
his  development,  whereas  with  us  there  have  arisen  great  groups  of  manufacturers 
who  have  taken  over  on  a  wholesale  scale  the  manufacture  of  the  pills,  the  powders, 


212 


the  plasters,  the  tinctures,  the  extracts,  the  surgical  dressings  and  the  cosmetic 
preparations  which  are  still  made  to  a  large  extent  by  the  individual  pharmacist  in 
Europe  and  in  the  Latin  Americas,  which  in  many  respects  follow  European  models. 

These  manufacturers  of  pharmaceuticals  and  allied  products  seek  an  outlet  for 
their  products  in  the  Latin  Americas  and  they  are  finding  it.  There  are  now  not 
less  than  thirty  expert  salesmen  engaged  in  the  introduction  of  these  goods  in  South 
and  Central  America.  Closely  allied  with  these  purely  pharmaceutical  or  rather 
galenical  products  are  the  proprietary  pharmaceuticals,  the  elixirs,  the  syrups,  the 
tablets,  etc.,  which  appeal  to  the  physician.  These  are  not  intended  for  direct  sale  to 
the  public.  They  are  intended  to  supply  to  the  physician  a  palatable,  assimilable  and 
effective  preparation  or  combination  to  be  prescribed  by  him. 

A  third  class,  and  quite  distinct  from  the  other  two,  is  the  Great  American 
Patent  Medicine.  The  cureall  of  flamboyant  advertising,  the  preparation  whose 
name  stares  at  us  from  billboards  and  whose  testimonials  fill  column  after  column 
of  newspaper  space  at  so  much  the  line. 

There  is  generally  in  the  Latin  Americas  a  superior  cultured  class  on  a  par 
in  education  and  in  general  culture  with  the  Latin  races  of  Europe  whence  they 
are  sprung.  But  there  is  a  vast  mass  of  working  people  who  have  still  to  go  through 
the  patent  medicine  era  of  development.  That  this  fact  is  being  appreciated  and 
profited  by,  is  evidenced  by  the  remarks  made  by  Professor  Shepherd  of  Columbia 
University,  who  told  of  the  familiar  names  which  greeted  him  from  street  car 
cards,  billposters  and  newspapers.  The  proprietors  of  these  remedies  are  the  men 
who  are  using  and  will  still  more  largely  use  the  popular  newspapers  of  the  Latin 
Americas. 

There  are  several  problems  which  present  themselves  to  the  manufacturer  of 
these  products  which  are  not  met  with  in  the  sale  of  other  lines  of  goods  and  these 
problems  we  should  like  to  present  for  discussion  by  the  conference : 

The  first  topic  which  I  wish  to  bring  up  for  discussion  is  one  which  affects 
not  only  medicinal  and  food  products  but  practically  every  line  of  goods.  That  is 
the  question  of  trade  marks,  the  protection  of  property  rights  under  trade  mark  laws. 

We  are  informed  in  the  call  for  the  conference  and  in  the  program  that 
criticisms  of  the  countries  interested  will  not  be  permitted.  I  infer  that  this  means 
individual  criticsm.  It  will  be  permissible  I  hope  to  point  out  the  serious  handicap 
on  trade  imposed  by  lack  of  adequate  protection  of  commercial  property  rights  in 
trade  marks  and  patents.  In  all  the  countries  of  the  world  there  seems  to  be  a 
tendency  to  give  increased  protection  to  trade  mark  rights.  I  hope  that  the  Latin 
Americas  will  not  be  behind  the  remainder  of  the  world  in  this,  and  that  in  their 
trade  mark  law  they  may  turn  more  to  the  English  than  the  continental  model,  may 
have  trade  mark  rights  protected  more  as  a  matter  of  equity  than  mere  law  and  may 
recognize  the  principle  that  mere  registration  cannot  give  ownership  if  unsupported 
by  use. 

The  regulations  regarding  the  admission  of  samples,  except  when  sent  direct 
by  mail  to  individuals,  in  most  countries  are  drawn  up  so  as  to  apply  to  clothing, 
machinery,  etc.  For  instance,  a  single  shoe,  or  glove,  or  half  a  yard  of  cloth,  as  a 
sample,  will  be  admitted  free  of  duty.  A  machine  will  be  admitted  as  a  sample 
under  bond,  to  pay  duty  in  case  it  is  sold.  But  a  sample  of  a  drug,  medicinal  prepar- 
ation, or  cosmetic  must  be  used  by  the  recipient  before  any  impression  can  be  made. 
Spain  recognizes  this  condition  by  admitting  a  pint  of  wine  free  as  a  sample.  It  is 
manifestly  impossible  to  enter  such  products  under  bond  and  return  them  when 
they  have  been  examined.  The  method  ordinarily  pursued  in  the  introduction  of 
pharmaceutical  products  or  proprietary  preparations  is  to  furnish  the  physician  with 
liberal  samples  and  full  information  regarding  the  products.  This  information  is 
usually,  and  best,  furnished  by  a  personal  interview.  Such  is  the  method  pursued  in 
the  United  States  and  such  methods  have  proven  successful  when  followed  in  the 
Latin  Americas.  But  the  manufacturer  who  wishes  to  send  a  lot  of  samples  into  a 
country  and  to  spend  a  considerable  sum  in  bringing  those  samples  to  the  attention 
of  the  ohysician,  finds  himself  compelled  to  pay,  in  many  cases,  an  extravagant  rate 
of  duty.  Dr.  Diaz  Guerra,  manager  of  the  export  department  of  Sharp  &  Dohme, 
of  Baltimore  and  New  York,  himself  a  native  of  Venezuela,  who  has  asked  me  to 
bring  up  this  point,  has  already  directed  attention  to  the  shortsightedness  of  such 
a  policy  on  the  part  of  the  governments  which  follow  it,  from  the  point  of  view  of 
revenue  alone.  The  manufacturer  who  finds  himself  compelled  to  pay  $350  im- 
port duties  on  samples  which  have  a  commercial  value  of  only  $25  or  $30  is  some- 

213 


what  discouraged  in  his  efforts  to  build  up  a  trade.  If  the  governments  would  pro- 
vide regulations  admitting  practically  free  of  charge  all  genuine  samples  of  this 
class,  under  such  restrictions  as  might  be  deemed  necessary,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that 
the  few  hundred  dollars  in  duties  thus  remitted  would  bear  fruit  in  the  building  up 
of  the  imports  of  these  articles  on  a  commercial  scale  which  would  yield  many 
thousands  of  dollars  annually.  This  imposition  of  a  high  rate  of  duty  on  samples 
is,  in  many  cases,  in  effect  prohibitory.  The  manufacturer  decides  that  he  will  not 
undertake  the  building  up  of  a  trade  under  such  adverse  circumstances,  and  the 
government,  therefore,  loses  the  possible  revenue  which  might  be  derived  from  the 
sale  of  such  goods,  altogether.  This  is  entirely  aside  from  any  laws  which  might  be 
enacted  regarding  the  character  of  the  medicinal  products  which  are  admitted.  Such 
laws  of  course  are  wholly  within  the  province  of  each  particular  country,  but 
granted  that  a  country  is  willing  to  admit  any  particular  drug  product,  and  that  it 
wishes  to  encourage  the  importation  of  manufactured  products  from  abroad,  it 
would  seem  to  be  a  shortsighted  policy  to  practically  exclude  it  by  the  imposition  of 
prohibitory  duties  on  samples  which  are  intended  for  free  distribution  and  consump- 
tion. The  same  conditions  apply  to  proprietary  food  products  and  other  proprietary 
articles  which  can  only  be  tested  by  consumption  by  the  ultimate  consumer. 

Another  important  point  which  exporters  of  medicinal  products  would  like 
brought  to  the  attention  of  the  Latin  American  authorities  is  the  apparently  unneces- 
sary variation  in  regulations  governing  the  details  of  labeling  such  goods.  For 
instance,  the  United  States  requires  that  the  quantity  of  alcohol  present  in  a  medici- 
nal product  shall  be  stated  as  the  percentage  of  absolute  alcohol  present.  The  Aus- 
tralian law  requires  that  it  be  stated  in  the  percentage  of  proof  spirit  present.  The 
latter  statement  must  be  based  on  the  former,  and  requires  not  only  an  additional 
calculation,  but  also  a  different  label  from  that  which  conveys  the  same  information 
under  the  United  States  law.  We  cannot,  of  course,  offer  any  criticism  as  to  the 
laws  governing  admission  or  rate  of  taxation  on  preparations  admitted,  but  the  point 
which  we  think  might  be  well  discussed  is  whether  or  not  it  is  possible  by  co-opera- 
tion between  the  authorities  of  the  different  Latin  American  States  to  frame  regula- 
tions intended  to  accomplish  the  same  results,  so  that  the  regulations  themselves  will 
be  uniform  in  character.  Since  the  citizens  of  these  countries  wish  to  buy,  it  would 
seem  to  be  reasonable  to  ask  that  an  effort  be  made  to  facilitate  trade  by  bringing 
about  a  certain  degree  at  least  of  uniformity  in  the  detailed  regulations  made  to 
enforce  practically  identical  laws. 

His  Excellency  the  President  of  the  United  States  spoke  most  hopefully  of  the 
influence  for  peace  of  international  public  opinion,  the  influence  of  the  united  opinion 
of  the  twenty-one  republics  of  America.  Is  it  not  possible  that  this  international 
public  opinion  may  be  favorably  exerted  on  commercial  questions  just  as  it  is  making 
itself  felt  on  political  issues? 

Will  it  not  be  possible  through  such  bodies  as  this-  conference  to  impress  upon 
the  peoples  and  the  governments  of  the  American  republics  that  both  the  importing 
and  the  exporting  nation,  both  the  buyer  and  the  seller,  are  benefited  by  reducing 
to  a  minimum  the  friction  caused  by  divergent  regulations,  by  promoting  the  intro- 
duction of  samples  for  free  distribution  and  by  adequate  protection  of  trademark 
rights  ? 

If  this  conference  can  succeed  in  impressing  on  the  governments  interested, 
our  own  included,  the  importance  of  these  three  points  to  the  world  of  commerce, 
to  the  buyer  and  the  seller  alike,  then  indeed  we  shall  have  occasion  to  congratulate 
all  concerned  in  the  calling  and  the  conduct  of  this  congress. 

We,  representatives  of  those  who  wish  to  sell,  have  learned  much  from  their 
excellencies  of  the  diplomatic  corps  who  have  honored  us  with  their  presence,  and 
from  the  consular  staff  and  from  the  able  experts  of  the  Pan  American  Union.  We 
have  been  taught — and  are  grateful  for  the  teaching — what  we  should  do  to  win  the 
trade  of  our  neighbors,  or,  as  Mr.  Santamarina  puts  it,  "our  brothers  to  the  south." 
I  hope  that  it  will  not  be  considered  presumptuous  for  us  to  offer  on  our  part  these 
suggestions. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  am  now  going  to  call  upon  a  man  who  will 
talk  on  a  subject  with  which  he  is  very  familiar  from  his  studies  and  investigations, 
and  who  will  tell  us  something  that  we  all  want  to  know  about — newspapers  and 
advertising — and  that  man  is  Mr.  Harrison  C.  Lewis,  who  has  made  a  very  careful 
study  and  gone  all  over  the  field. 

214 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  HARRISON  C.  LEWIS,  NATIONAL  PAPER 
AND  TYPE  CO.,  NEW  YORK 

Mr.  LEWIS  said: 

I  take  for  my  subject  "Co-operation."  Some  years  ago,  while  going  over  a 
rough  mountain  trail  in  South  America,  I  watched  a  Yankee  trying  to  drive  a  six- 
mule  team  attached  to  a  coach.  He  was  driving  Yankee  fashion,  and  the  mules, 
having  been  trained  to  a  different  system  of  guidance,  were  going  in  four  different 
directions,  and  no  progress  was  made.  Then,  at  a  word  in  Spanish  from  a  man  on 
horseback,  an  Indian  took  his  place  at  the  head  of  each  mule,  a  dozen  more  got  at 
the  wheels  and  the  end  of  the  coach,  the  Yankee  was  very  politely  requested  to  drop 
the  reins,  disaster  was  averted  and  progress  at  once  began. 

This  incident  is  typical  of  the  attitude  of  those  who  are  endeavoring  to  do 
business  in  foreign  countries  without  first  learning  something  of  the  methods  and 
customs  of  those  countries. 

There  are  numberless  things  which  may  be  said  of  the  means  necessary  to 
obtaining  business  in  the  Latin  American  countries,  but,  unfortunately,  experience 
has  shown  that  methods  which  are  essential  and  successful  in  certain  countries  are 
of  little  value  in  others.  Any  general  rule  or  general  advice  is  therefore  likely  to  be 
misleading,  and  those  who  mean  to  go  earnestly  after  this  business  must  learn  from 
careful  investigation  and  experience  the  particular  needs  of  each  country  and  all 
the  essential  details  affecting  their  goods. 

The  subject  that  I  have  decided  to  present  to  this  Convention  is  probably  not 
applicable  to  all  houses  endeavoring  to  obtain  business  in  the  republics  south  of  us, 
but  it  may  be  applied  with  decided  advantage  in  many  cases.  Our  sister  republics, 
as  a  whole,  are  not  wealthy,  nor  are  they  thickly  populated,  and  their  buying  power 
is  consequently  limited.  This  does  not  mean  that  there  is  not  a  substantial  demand 
for  our  products  in  those  countries,  but  it  does  indicate  the  fact  that  such  sales  as 
may  be  obtained  by  any  concern  working  by  itself  carry  a  rather  heavy  selling  ex- 
pense. If  this  expense  can  be  divided  through  increasing  the  sale  of  other  commo- 
dities, the  profit  to  the  manufacturer  is  greater,  the  territory  can  be  worked  more 
frequently  and  more  thoroughly,  and  the  encouragement  to  the  manufacturer  to 
continue  his  efforts  is  increased.  The  greater  volume  of  American  goods  going  into 
that  territory  increases  the  general  confidence  in  American  manufactures,  which  has 
been  somewhat  weak,  and  creates  an  additional  demand  for  them.  This  will  insure 
a  greater  permanency  of  our  trade  relations. 

The  company  which  I  represent,  when  it  'began  to  cover  all  the  Latin  Ameri- 
can countries,  undertook  to  combine  in  its  selling  organization  practically  all  of  the 
separate  companies,  handling  similar  goods,  that  had  heretofore  been  doing  business 
in  that  field,  and  it  also  obtained  the  representation  of  practically  every  large  manu- 
facturing concern  in  our  line  of  business  in  the  United  States.  We  have  even  gone 
so  far  as  to  represent  several  competing  concerns,  dividing  our  business  among  them, 
in  some  cases  on  percentage  basis  and  in  others  in  such  a  manner  as  to  satisfy  the 
factories.  In  this  way  they  have  been  relieved  of  all  selling  expense  and  have  been 
enabled  to  make  prices  which  will  generally  permit  us  to  sell  in  competition  with 
European  houses,  and  they  have,  with  scarcely  an  exception,  done  more  profitable 
business  than  they  could  possibly  have  done  through  individual  work. 

By  reason  of  this  general  representation  we  have  been  able  to  solicit  business 
more  extensively  and  more  thoroughly  and  at  less  expense,  and  have  in  consequence 
steadily  and  largely  increased  our  sales  from  year  to  year.  The  advantage  of  offer- 
ing the  goods  of  competing  houses  has  been  found  to  be  of  more  value  than  was  at 
first  anticipated,  for  this  reason :  A  merchant  or  a  dealer  in  a  large  center  may  not 
wish  to  handle  the  same  goods  that  his  competitor  sells,  and  our  policy  has  enabled 
such  merchants  to  obtain  and  control  an  individual  line.  In  consequence  of  this  the 
local  merchant  or  dealer  has  been  able  to  handle  his  business  in  our  line  with  greater 
profit  and  with  less  investment. 

I  should  therefore  strongly  urge  those  who  are  contemplating  efforts  to  obtain 
business  in  the  Latin  American  countries,  and  also  those  who  are  doing  more  or 
less  business  in  those  countries  at  the  present  time,  to  combine  as  far  as  seems  prac- 
ticable, so  that  their  selling  expense  may  be  reduced,  their  selling  prices  be  likewise 
reduced  and  a  permanent  business  be  created.  This  permanent  business  will,  I  be- 
lieve, prove  to  be  of  great  ultimate  value  if  a  consistent  policy  of  fair  dealing  and 
rigid  compliance  with  terms  of  sale  be  maintained,  together  with  proper  methods  of 

215 


packing,  concerning  which  we  have  much  to  learn,  and  with  high  and  steadfast 
standards  as  to  quality  of  material. 

A  central  organization  controlling  the  business  ^  of  several  houses  with  lines 
more  or  less  similar  can,  in  my  judgment,  handle  this  business  with  less  expense 
and  more  facility,  and  with  greater  profit,  than  will  result  from  individual  effort,  be- 
cause individual  effort  is  too  likely  to  be  sporadic  and  to  lack  the  intimate  knowledge 
of  the  customers  and  of  local  conditions,  which  is  so  essential  in  creating  and  main- 
taining any  large  business.  The  management  of  such  a  selling  organization  must 
be  broad-gauged  and  liberal — and  patient.  The  first  results  may  not  be  entirely 
satisfactory,  but  experience  will  show  not  only  what  is  demanded  by  the  trade,  but 
what  will  best  meet  the  needs  of  each  country,  and  with  intelligent,  farsighted  co-op- 
eration on  the  part  of  manufacturing  establishments,  a  business  may  ultimately  be 
established  which  should  prove  of  great  value.  Sudden  or  arbitrary  changes  or  prices 
or  terms  of  sale  are  decidedly  unwise.  The  first  and  most  important  essential  of 
doing  a  satisfactory  export  business  is  to  obtain  the  absolute  confidence  of  the 
buyers,  and  this  can  be  done,  in  my  judgment,  more  quickly  and  surely  through  a 
selling  organization  devoted  entirely  to  export  business  than  by  houses  attempting 
to  handle  this  trade  directly  when  it  may  be,  of  necessity,  of  relatively  small  volume. 

There  is  not  the  need  of  supplying  the  same  articles  that  our  European  com- 
petitors have  furnished,  though  much  has  been  said  and  written  to  the  contrary. 
European  houses  generally  have  been  disposed  to  offer  to  the  Latin  American  trade 
the  goods  that  would  sell  most  readily.  They  have  not  fully  taken  into  consideration 
the  fact  that  the  Latin  is  quick  to  see  and  to  appreciate  the  benefits  of  using  the  best 
materials,  and  that  he  is  always  ready  to  consider  the  advantage  of  buying  machin- 
ery or  merchandise  which  will  really  help  his  business.  He  should,  therefore,  be 
offered  the  best  article  that  legitimately  meets  his  requirements,  and  time  and 
patience  should,  if  necessary,  be  used  to  introduce  such  articles  rather  than  to 
endeavor  to  supply  the  same  goods  or  goods  similar  to  those  which  he  may  have 
been  purchasing  from  Europe,  which  are  frequently  of  inferior  quality  or  not  wholly 
suited  to  his  particular  needs.  It  is  important  to  determine  what  best  fills  the  real 
needs  of  the  buyer,  and  though  a  business  laid  out  on  such  lines  may  not  grow 
rapidly  at  the  beginning,  it  will  grow  surely,  if  properly  handled,  and  it  will  be 
permanent. 

In  the  same  way  carelessness,  or  indifference,  to  the  legitimate  requirements 
of  the  trade  will  promptly  result  in  loss  of  business.  Make  no  mistake  about  that. 
Nothing  is  "good  enough"  for  the  Latin  American,  in  the  long  run,  except  the  best 
possible  thing  for  the  conditions  he  has  to  meet. 

It  is  difficult  to  realize  all  of  the  mistakes  of  practice  and  judgment  that  may 
be  made  unless  a  house  is  in  constant  touch  with  its  trade,  and  this  can  best  be  done 
by  a  central  selling  organization  having  nothing  else  to  do  except  handle  export 
business.  I  should  not  advise  the  taking  on  of  too  many  lines  or  of  too  many 
houses.  Trade  must  be  concentrated  as  much  as  is  consistent  with  the  maintenance 
of  thorough  work  and  a  moderate  selling  price. 

That  there  is  a  great  field  for  American  houses  in  the  Latin  American  coun- 
tries I  do  not  doubt,  and  it  is  exceedingly  gratifying  to  see  American  concerns  not 
only  making  greater  efforts  to  obtain  this  business,  but  using  more  intelligence  and 
consistent  endeavor  than  has  heretofore  generally  been  shown. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  A  great  many  men  here  have  asked  me  about 
newspapers  and  advertising  in  Latin  America.  I  know  that  Mr.  Lewis  has  made 
very  careful  observation  in  this  line.  What  he  said  here  today  has  been  excellent, 
and  it  is,  I  am  sure,  a  pleasure  for  him  to  answer  any  questions  not  developed  in  his 
paper.  Now,  would  someone  like  to  ask  a  question  along  that  line  ? 

MR.  COFFIN  :  I  would  like  to  know  what  sort  of  rates  of  advertising  in  period- 
icals like  the  Illustration  of  Buenos  Aires,  or  any  of  those  illustrated  weeklies  that 
circulate  so  enormously,  quote. 

MR.  CHANDLER:  I  am  very  glad  you  brought  that  up,  because  it  leads  to 
something  that  must  be  brought  before  every  one  of  us  here.  There  are  two  papers, 
the  Coras  y  Caretas  and  the  Zig  Zag,  which  are  two  of  the  most  excellent  adver- 
tising media  that  you  could  possibly  have,  and  a  great  many  of  our  people  have 
advertised  in  them  with  profit. 

As  to  the  exact  advertising  rates,  on  the  average  just  about  the  same,  accord- 
ing to  my  recollection — of  course,  they  vary  from  time  to  time — as  the  rates  would 
be  in  similar  publications  here,  and  in  some  cases  a  little  bit  less.  Each  of  those  have 
a  tremendous  circulation. 

216 


One  point  more  about  that  I  want  to  bring  out  here.  Some  gentlemen,  speak- 
ing of  Buenos  Aires,  mentioned  two  English  papers  there.  One  of  those  has  a 
circulation  of  1500  and  the  other  10,000  in  a  city  of  one  million  three  hundred  thou- 
sand people.  The  best  daily  advertising  media  in  Buenos  Aires  are  La  Prcnsa  and 
La  Razon,  represented  by  Mr.  Santamarina,  and  one  or  two  other  large  papers,  and 
I  will  be  very  glad,  should  anyone  want  to  consult  further  about  that,  to  speak  to 
them  later. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  going  to  call  upon  a  man  who  has  made  a 
most  careful  study  of  Panama  and  the  Isthmus  and  how  it  is  directly  concerned  with 
our  trade,  and  he  has  been  here  through  the  whole  conference  and  has  manifested  a 
great  deal  of  interest  in  it,  and  at  the  conclusion  of  his  paper  I  am  sure  he  will  be 
glad  to'  answer  any  question.  I  have  pleasure  in  introducing  Mr.  Forbes  Lindsay. 

REMARKS  BY  MR.  FORBES  LINDSAY,  AUTHOR,  AND 

EXPERT  ON  THE  PANAMA  CANAL 
Mr.  LINDSAY  said : 

Gentlemen,  I  hate  apologies,  but  I  will  make  an  explanation  briefly.  I  rose 
from  a  sick  bed  for  this  conference,  and  I  have  not  been  able  to  enter  into  the  pro- 
ceedings with  the  zest  I  should  like  to  have.  I  may  say  that  no  other  conference, 
convention,  christening  or  any  other  function  in  the  United  States  would  have 
induced  me  to  do  so. 

Twenty  years  ago  the  attention  of  this  country  was  seriously  turned  toward 
Spanish  America  as  a  field  for  commercial  expansion.  Reciprocity  agreements  payed 
the  way  for  the  entrance  of -our  goods,  but  just  as  conditions  became  ripe  for  action 
a  combination  of  adverse  circumstances  obstructed  the  contemplated  enterprise  and 
diverted  the  efforts  of  our  exporters  to  Oriental  markets. 

We  entered  a  much  more  difficult  market  than  we  had  anticipated.  Never- 
theless, we  have  made  creditable  headway  in  it,  and  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  state 
that,  should  our  manufacturers  devote  equal  energy  and  money  to  the  cultivation  of 
trade  with  Latin  American  countries,  our  exports  to  them  would  be  increased  fifty 
per  cent,  in  the  course  of  a  decade. 

The  effort  is  in  every  way  worth  while  making,  and  conditions  at  present  are 
more  favorable  to  success  than  ever  before — at  any  rate,  each  year  that  we  delay 
this  enterprise  increases  the  difficulties  with  which  we  have  to  contend,  for  Euro- 
pean nations  are  employing  every  means  to  strengthen  their  position  and  extend 
their  influence  in  a  market  which  they  long  since  recognized  as  not  only  immediately 
profitable,  but  as  holding  unlimited  promise  for  the  future. 

The  trade  of  Latin  America  should  be  more  desirable  to  us  than  that  of  the 
Orient.  We  may  more  readily  establish  friendly  relations  with  the  people  of  the 
former  region.  In  many  respects  we  have  a  community  of  interests.  Their  markets 
are  nearer  to  us  than  any  others,  and  in  this  connection  I  am  thinking  of  the 
Panama  Canal  as  an  accomplished  fact.  In  Asia,  our  goods  will  soon  be  subjected  to 
severe  competition  with  local  products  of  the  cheapest  labor.  The  demands  of  Span- 
ish America  are  more  varied,  the  purchasing  power  of  its  populations  much  greater 
and  the  prospects  of  development  infinitely  superior  to  similar  conditions  in  Asia. 

Latin  America  is  today  the  largest  and  best  foreign  market  open  to  us.  The 
question  before  this  conference  is,  How  may  we  secure  as  great  a  share  as  possible 
of  the  trade  of  this  market,  under  arrangements  that  will  involve  the  use  by  us  of  a 
reciprocal  proportion  of  the  products  of  the  countries  which  receive  our  goods?  It 
is  a  highly  important  question,  relating  to  a  vast  and  complex  subject.  Practically 
all  the  various  phases  of  the  matter  have  been  presented  and  discussed  in  the  course 
of  our  deliberations,  and  I  shall  restrict  my  remarks  to  two  points,  dealing  with  them 
only  in  a  general  way.  These  two  points  are,  meeting  and  creating  demand. 

In  a  highly  competitive  market  there  are  naturally  many  difficulties  to  be  over- 
come, but  I  believe  that  none  of  these  is  as  obstructive  to  the  extension  of  our  trade 
in  Latin  America  as  is  the  attitude  of  our  manufacturers.  That  attitude  finds  expres- 
sion in  the  oft-repeated  statement,  "These  are  the  goods  our  factory  turns  out.  If 
your  people  want  something  else,  we  can't  do  business  with  them."  Such  a  stand 
was  impolitic,  but  practicable  a  few  years  ago,  when  the  domestic  consumption 
exceeded  our  utmost  output  of  most  commodities.  Then,  in  response  to  an  inflated 
and  temporary  demand,  we  enlarged  our  mills  and  factories.  Today  we  are  suffering 

217 


from  hypertrophy  of  capacity,  and  we  must  find  new  outlets  for  our  production.  No 
better  channel  than  Latin  America  exists  for  the  disposition  of  our  surplus  goods, 
but  we  can  only  secure  the  desired  trade  by  conforming,  with  all  the  intelligence  and 
accommodation  possible,  to  the  demands  of  the  customers  we  seek.  This  is  the 
way  of  our  competitors.  We  must  adopt  it  in  a  liberal  spirit,  foregoing,  if  need  be, 
immediate  profit  for  the  sake  of  greater  ultimate  gain. 

The  British  or  German  manufacturer  does  not  expect  his  customer  to  adjust 
his  desires  to  the  practice  of  the  factory.  He  never  writes  to  his  agent  saying:  "We 
make  so-and-so ;  sell  it  or  leave  it."  On  the  contrary,  he  urges  his  representatives  : 
^Tell  us  what  your  trade  wants  and  if  .we  have  not  got  it,  we  will  make  it.  Let  us 
know  how  your  customers  wish  their  goods  packed,  and  marked,  and  invoiced.  We 
will  ship  accordingly." 

The  European  manufacturer  will  go  to  any  length  to  accommodate  the  buyer 
and  he  does  not  question  the  reasonableness  of  the  demands  that  are  made  upon  him. 
A  Manchester  house  made  a  trial  shipment  to  Hong  Kong  of  certain  pieces  of  goods 
in  cases  the  tops  of  which  had  been  accidently  stenciled  on  both  sides.  In  the  second 
consignment  the  Chinese  buyers,  the  shrewdest  and  most  observant  dealers  in  the 
world,  missed  the  marking  from  the  insides  of  the  covers,  and  it  was  with  the  greatest 
difficulty  that  the  local  agent  persuaded  them  that  the  goods  were  exactly  like  those 
previously  sold  to  them  with  the  same  chop.  They  demanded  the  superfluous 
stenciling  on  future  shipments,  and  for  eighteen  years  that  particular  brand  of  calico 
has  been  supplied  in  accordance  with  their  curious  request. 

Now  an  American  manufacturer  would  have  considered  such  a  demand  as  too 
absurd  and  fanciful  to  merit  serious  attention.  He  is  apt  to  look  upon  any  modifica- 
tion of  his  usual  practice  as  vexatious  and  unnecessary  trouble  and,  in  his  ignorance 
of  the  conditions  that  affect  the  consumer,  he  frequently  treats  very  important  re- 
quests as  matters  of  no  consequence.  The  superintendent  of  a  mine  in  Nicaragua 
complained  to  me  of  the  failure  of  an  American  firm  to  comply  with  the  instructions 
which  accompanied  his  order.  He  had  distinctly  asked  that  the  shipment,  which 
consisted  of  about  sixteen  tons  of  machinery,  should  be  in  cases  not  exceeding  a 
certain  weight  each.  The  shipper  entirely  overlooked  these  instructions  or,  which  is 
more  probable,  deliberately  neglected  them  under  the  impression  that  they  were  of  no 
particular  moment.  As  a  consequence,  the  consignee  had  to  unpack  and  rebox  all 
the  material  in  order  to  adapt  it  for  the  long  carriage  into  the  interior  on  pack  mules. 

Latin-American  consumers  appreciate  the  superiority  of  our  goods  and  in 
many  lines  prefer  them,  even  at  considerably  higher  prices,  to  those  of  our  competi- 
tors. They  are,  however,  often  restrained  from  ordering  by  experience  of  the  Ameri- 
can shipper's  carelessness  in  the  matter  of  instructions,  and  by  the  knowledge  that 
the  American  manufacturer  looks  upon  his  Latin-American  trade  connections  as  a 
makeshift,  to  be  abandoned  or  neglected  whenever  the  demand  of  the  home  market 
becomes  pressing.  Some  of  our  exporters  have  shown  commendable  enterprise  in 
recent  years  by  complying  closely  with  the  conditions  of  the  demand  and  by  pushing 
their  goods  with  the  steady  persistency  which  they  employ  in  the  States.  In  every 
case,  the  results  have  been  so  pronounced  as  to  afford  ample  and  conclusive  evidence 
of  what  may  be  accomplished  by  a  general  movement  in  the  same  direction. 

Despite  the  laxity  of  our  methods,  American  trade  in  this  market  has  increased 
during  the  past  decade  at  a  greater  rate  than  that  of  England  or  Germany.  This  is 
due  to  a  number  of  concomitant  causes,  but  mainly  to  the  excellence  of  our  products. 
In  fact,  we  are  quite  equal  to  the  competition,  which  has  been  much  exaggerated, 
especially  with  reference  to  Germany.  In  many  lines,  as,  for  instance,  hardware, 
tools,  cutlery,  there  is  a  distinct  reaction  against  the  cheap  and  inferior  production 
of  that  country. 

Few  sections  of  Spanish-America  have  passed  beyond  the  earliest  stages  of 
development,  but  most  of  this  sparsely  populated  territory  is  progressing.  The  stan- 
dard of  living  is  steadily  rising  among  the  people.  Their  wants  are  becoming  greater 
and  more  diversified  with  the  increase  of  their  power  of  purchase.  Under  such  con- 
ditions there  are  numerous  opportunities  for  creating  new  demand.  The  observation, 
foresight,  and  close  calculation,  which  are  characteristic  of  our  people,  peculiarly 
qualify  them  for  this  sort  of  pioneer  endeavor  in  commerce.  The  manufacturer  who 
shall  display  the  courage  and  enterprise  to  introduce  his  goods  to  a  virgin  field,  in 
anticipation  of  the  future  development  of  the  country,  will  surely  reap  bounteously 
where  he  sows  the  early  seed. 

Creation  of  demand  necessitates  the  engagement  of  an  agent  who  will  be  con- 
stantly on  the  ground  and  persistently  pushing  the  goods.  He  should  be  a  man  sent 

218 


out  from  the  States  for  the  express  purpose.  The  very  best  man  available  is  none  too 
good  to  send  after  the  Latin-American  trade,  and  moreover,  he  will  be,  in  the  long 
run,  the  most  economical  man  to  employ. 

American  travelling  agents,  as  a  class,  are  not  equal  in  efficiency  to  those  em- 
ployed by  European  houses.  The  latter  are  generally,  and  especially  in  the  case  of 
the  Germans,  technical  experts  and  accomplished  linguists.  They  have  the  advantage 
of  our  representatives  in  the  matters  of  tact,  patience,  and  receptiveness  to  the  other's 
point  of  view.  In  short,  they  possess  that  elastic  quality  which  is  expressed  by  the 
term  la  simpatia.  Then  again,  Americans  do  not  pay  attention  to  the  formal  courtesy 
that  is  the  universal  habit  of  Latin-Americans.  Our  friends  in  the  south  believe  that 
the  social  amenities  should  be  extended  to  business  relations.  They  cannot  under- 
stand a  gentleman  having  one  set  of  manners  for  his  drawing-room  and  another  for 
his  countinghouse,  as  is  too  often  the  case  with  us. 

The  key  to  success,  both  in  the  matter  of  meeting  demand  and  of  creating  it, 
is  knowledge  of  the  market.  We  must  study  the  conditions,  and  learn  the  needs  and 
desires  of  the  consumers.  We  must  divest  ourselves  of  our  predjudices  and  cultivate 
a  mutual  understanding  with  our  customers.  Much  may  be  done  in  these  directions, 
and  by  sending  a  greater  number  of  the  right  kind  of  men  into  the  field,  but  I  believe 
that  complete  success  can  only  be  attained  by  systematic  and  organized  endeavor. 

In  conclusion,  gentlemen,  let  me  say  that  this  is  not  a  difficult  territory  in 
which  to  secure  a  footing.  The  people  and  their  governments  are  well-disposed  to- 
ward us.  There  is  a  readiness — almost  an  eagerness — to  buy  our  goods,  if  we  will 
make  certain  concessions  to  established  commercial  usage  in  Latin-America.  We 
have  an  advantage  over  our  competitors  in  a  permanent  agency,  such  as  none  of  them 
possesses.  I  refer  to  the  Pan  American  Union,  which  is  maintained  for  the  purpose 
of  promoting  friendly  and  commercial  interests,  and  disseminating  information 
among  the  brotherhood  of  republics  that  constitute  the  Americas. 

Gentlemen,  when  we  have  corrected  the  misconceptions  which  stand  in  the  way 
of  a  proper  appreciation  of  our  Latin-American  neighbors,  when  we  have  gained  a 
better  insight  to  the  conditions  under  which  they  live,  their  necessities  and  desires, 
we  shall  find  in  the  countries  of  this  continent  to  the  south  of  us  the  best  possible 
foreign  markets  for  almost  every  kind  of  merchandise  that  we  export. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  am  sure  we  have  enjoyed  that  very  much.  Is 
there  any  questions  you  would  like  to  ask  Mr.  Lindsay? 

I  am  going  to  call  upon  the  very  best  known  man  in  our  country  in  his  work, 
Mr.  F.  H.  Newell,  head  of  the  Reclamation  Bureau. 

REMARKS  BY   MR.  F.  H.  NEWELL,  OF  THE  RECLAMATION 
BUREAU  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Mr.  NEWELL  said : 

The  subject  that  I  wish  to  lay  before  you  is  one  of  the  creation  of  homes, 
and  of  home  markets,  through  the  activities  of  the  Government,  and  to  illustrate 
what  may  be  done  in  our  enterprising  countries  by  the  results  which  you  have  accom- 
plished in  the  United  States. 

As  many  of  you  know,  a  large  part  of  our  area  is  arid.  It  is  a  country  which 
we  think  of,  we  in  the  east,  as  being  a  dry  desert  and  deprived  of  many  advantages 
of  the  east.  But  it  has  the  inestimable  advantage  that  many  of  the  South  American 
countries  do,  of  a  large  amount  of  sunshine ;  and  that  sunshine  is  the  basis  upon 
which  we  are  building  not  merely  a  civilization  but  a  trade  and  commerce  which  has 
hardly  been  surpassed  in  any  part  of  the  world.  In  other  words,  the  United  States  is 
utilizing  the  waste  lands  by  storing  the  waste  waters,  the  waters  which  go  in  floods 
and  would  otherwise  destroy  the  homes,  by  holding  back  those  waste  waters,  making 
the  waste  lands  fertile,  by  bringing  the  waters  to  them  and  then  providing  homes  free 
for  the  men  whose  lives  might  be  wasted  in  the  densely  settled  cities  of  the  east. 

Now,  the  same  question  is  confronting  many  of  the  newer  countries,  or  many 
of  the  less  densely  settled  countries  of  South  America,  as  is  shown  by  the  inquiries 
made  concerning  what  our  government  has  done  and  is  doing  in  the  west. 

We  have  already  expended  about  sixty  millions  of  dollars.  That  money  does 
not  come  out  of  the  tax  payers.  It  is  a  fund  created  by  the  disposal  of  public  lands, 
set  aside  for  the  purpose  of  building  works  for  the  holding  of  the  flood  waters,  for 
bringing  these  out  to  the  fertile,  but  otherwise  dry  lands  and  for  making  homes 

219 


SALVADOR  * 


UNITED    STATES 
1 1,34:4,3 15 


7AU  AWLXICAHUKIOK 
WasHD.C 


which  are  open  to  every  citizen  of  the  United  States.  Each  one  of  you  present  who 
is  a  citizen  and  who  has  not  exhausted  his  homestead  right,  can  go  out  and  take 
forty  or  eighty  acres,  and  get  a  title,  if  you  live  upon  it  five  years,  and  will  pay  the 
cost  of  the  bringing  of  the  water  to  it. 

Now,  this  is  not  a  gift.  The  estimated  cost  of  reclaiming  that  land  is  to  be 
paid  by  the  farmer,  or  by  the  seller  who  is  benefited,  in  ten  annual  instalments. 
This  money  comes  back  to  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  and  is  used  immediately 
again  in  building  more  works. 

And  thus  we  are  building  these  large  storage  reservoirs  in  the  west,  bringing 
out  the  flood  waters  upon  this  thirsty  soil  and  offering  opportunities  to  each  American 
citizen  to  come  out  there  and  make  a  home,  not  merely  a  place  to  live — but  a  place 
where  he  may  make  a  true  home  for  his  children  and  his  children's  children.  The 
result  of  this  is  that  we  are  producing  a  population — I  may  say,  incidentally,  we  have 
about  14,000  families  already  located  there,  the  best  type  of  citizenship  that  any  coun- 
try can  produce.  It  is  not  the  man  who  is  mining,  the  man  who  is  working  on  the 
street  car  or  in  a  factory  who  makes  a  dependable  citizen,  but  it  is  the  man  who  has 
a  little  piece  of  land  on  which  he  lives,  which  is  a  home  and  from  which  he  derives 
his  livelihood  and  where  his  hopes  are  all  bound  up.  As  Edward  Everett  Hale  has 
said,  "Whoever  heard  of  a  man  shouldering  a  musket  and  going  out  to  fight  for  his 
boarding-house?"  That  is  a  whole  sermon.  The  man  who  will  fight  not  merely  with 
a  gun,  but  with  his  toil  and  influence  is  a  man  who  owns  a  little  piece  of  land,  who  is 
interested  in  schools,  roads  and  every  question  which  affects  the  best  life  of  the 
nation ;  and  we  can  not  build  up  here  or  in  other  countries  a  more  prosperous  or  more 
permanent  citizenship  than  that  built  upon  the  ownership  of  small  tracts  of  land. 

Now,  we  are  not  trying  to  make  the  men  rich;  we  are  not  giving  them  large, 
unlimited  areas  of  land.  We  are  allotting  to  each  man  sufficient  to  support  his 
family;  in  some  cases  as  small  as  ten  acres,  down  in  the  southern  part  of  the  United 
States,  where  a  perpetual  sunshine  reigns  during  the  day,  and  where  crop  follows 
crop;  and  if  he  has  children  he  probably  will  cut  that  up,  because  it  will  support  a 
family.  In  the  far  north,  Montana,  we  are  making  it  eighty  acres,  and  in  some 
cases  160,  on  the  basis  of  enough  to  support  a  family. 

Those  families  are,  all  things  considered,  the  most  wealthy  in  the  United 
States,  in  a  certain  sense  that  all  their  needs  are  provided  for.  They  are  the  best 
buyers ;  they  cultivate  the  soil  intensively ;  they  have  something  to  sell,  and  they 
have  the  opportunities  of  buying  the  manufactured  products  of  the  east  and  of  other 
goods. 

And  my  story  is  told  in  simply  saying  this :  That  the  opportunities  for  this 
conservation,  as  we  call  it,  for  this  storage  of  the  water,  for  the  utilization  of  the 
waste  resources  in  this  country  are  hardly  yet  touched ;  and  these  opportunities  ex- 
tend throughout  the  Southern  Hemisphere  as  well  as  the  Northern.  I  thank  you. 

MRS.  BELVA  A.  LOCKWOOD  :    Tell  us  where  the  land  is. 

MR.  NEWELL  :  The  land  is  confined  to  the  thirteen  western  states  and  three 
territories — states  from  Nebraska,  Kansas  and  the  Dakotas  west  to  the  Pacific  Coast 
So  that  as  I  have  said  before,  we  have  developed  many  thousands  of  farms  in  those 
areas. 

MRS.  LOCKWOOD:     Do  you  mean  the  Philippines? 

MR.  NEWELL:     I  said  "west  to  the  Pacific  Coast." 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  Banking  has  been  mentioned  time  and  time  again. 
We  have  with  us  one  of  the  best  speakers  on  that  subject  in  the  country.  Mr.  E.  H. 
Youngman,  Editor  of  the  Bankers'  Magazine. 

REMARKS  BY  MR.  E.  H.  YOUNGMAN,  EDITOR  OF  THE 
BANKERS'  MAGAZINE 

Mr.  YOUNGMAN  said : 

Before  entering  on  the  discussion  of  a  proposal  to  establish  an  American  bank 
in  Latin  America  or  other  foreign  countries,  it  might  be  well  to  inquire,  first,  whether 
or  not  such  a  bank  is  needed ;  and,  second,  if  found  to  be  needed,  what  sort  of  bank 
it  ought  to  be.  These  are  very  simple  questions,  perhaps,  but  to  my  mind  they  are  of 
great  importance. 

First — As  to  the  need  of  an  American  bank,  or  banks,  in  Latin  America,  opinion  is 
far  from  being  unanimous.    We  are  told  by  some  that  the  existing  banks  stand  ready 

221 


to  supply  all  facilities  necessary  to  carry  on  trade  between  the  United  States  and 
Latin  America,  and  that  no  necessity  exists  for  establishing  American  banking  institu- 
tions for  further  developing  our  commerce.  That  view,  I  think,  is  not  entertained  by 
those  who  have  a  practicable  first-hand  knowledge  of  the  subject. 

Banking  is  not  an  entirely  passive  and  impartial  instrument  of  commerce.  The 
railway  or  the  ship  may,  possibly,  be  as  ready  to  carry  the  goods  of  one  nation,  or  of 
one  merchant,  as  of  another.  Not  so  with  banking  Each  bank  has  its  clients,  as 
the  lawyers  have  theirs.  A  bank  selects  its  dealers,  and  deals  only  with  whom  it 
chooses.  Sometimes  the  selection  may  be  made  from  the  standpoint  of  location,  of 
particular  lines  of  business,  even  of  nationality.  Banking  may  be  cosmopolitan  in 
many  of  its  aspects,  but  the  considerations  named — and  others  that  might  be  cited — 
have  an  important  bearing  on  the  business  of  those  who  deal  with  banks. 

Besides,  in  many  portions  of  Latin  America,  as  in  all  partially-developed  coun- 
tries, a  bank  is  other  than  a  mere  institution  of  deposit  and  discount.  It  assumes 
not  infrequently  the  duties  of  a  financial  and  commercial  agent,  with  functions  much 
wider  than  those  pertaining  to  banking  as  generally  understood. 

If  anyone  from  the  United  States  should  be  in  any  country  of  Latin  America, 
with  a  view  to  carrying  on  some  particular  enterprise  that  required  banking  assist- 
ance, to  whom  could  he  turn  most  confidently — to  an  American  bank,  to  the  native 
local  institution,  or  to  a  French,  German  or  English  bank  that  might  possibly  be 
interested  in  defeating  his  efforts  in  favor  of  some  rival?  To  ask  this  question  is 
to  answer  it.  And  yet  this  is  but  one  phase — and  perhaps  a  relatively  unimportant 
one — of  this  problem. 

Certainly,  few  would  be  so  rash  as  to  claim  that  the  banks  in  this  country  have 
thorough  knowledge  of  Latin-American  credits,  or  that  they  are  prepared  to  grant 
credit  on  the  terms  necessary  to  place  us  in  a  position  to  compete  on  terms  of  equal- 
ity with  the  European  manufacturer  or  merchant  in  securing  Latin  American  trade. 

Nearly  every  activity  of  production  and  trade  comes  into  contact  somewhere 
with  the  business  of  banking.  The  perfection  of  a  country's  commercial  machinery — 
its  smooth  and  effective  working — depends  very  largely  upon  the  character  of  its 
banks.  Trade  between  nations  arises,  of  course,  from  the  demand  existing  in  one 
country  and  the  ability  of  another  country  to  supply  that  demand  at  the  right  price. 
But  this  ability  to  furnish  goods  at  a  salable  price  will,  to  no  small  extent,  be  gov- 
erned by  the  efficiency  of  the  banking  machinery.  We  need  not  stop  to  inquire 
whether  banks  create  commerce  or  not.  It  is  enough  to  know  that  they  greatly 
facilitate  it. 

There  is  no  doubt  whatever  in  my  mind  that  an  American  bank,  properly 
organized  and  wisely  managed,  would  be  a  powerful  agent  in  extending  our  enter- 
prise throughout  Latin  America  and  in  developing  our  commercial  relations  with 
our  southern  neighbors,  to  the  great  advantage  of  all  concerned. 

Primarily,  this  question  in  its  narrower  commercial  aspect  resolves  itself  into 
a  matter  of  profit.  If  our  banking  capital  can  earn  good  profits,  in  Latin  America  or 
elsewhere,  why  should  we  debar  it  from  going  there,  and  under  the  conditions  most 
favorable  to  success  ?  For  example,  can  any  good  reason  be  given  why  our  National 
banks,  of  large  enough  capital,  should  not  be  given  the  privilege  of  establishing 
branches  in  Mexico  and  Cuba,  now  exercised  by  the  great  chartered  banks  of  Can- 
ada? 

Second — If  it  be  conceded  that  our  banking  relations  with  Latin  America  are 
capable  of  improvement,  and  that  our  banking  capital  should  enter  that  field,  it  next 
becomes  necessary  to  consider  what  kind  of  bank  would  be  the  best.  The  National 
Bank  Act  prohibits,  and  as  I  believe  wisely  prohibits,  a  national  bank  from  having 
branches.  I  can  see  no  good  reason,  however,  why  our  national  banks  of  very  large 
capital  might  not  be  permitted,  under  proper  regulations,  to  have  branches  in  the 
chief  cities  of  Latin  America,  and  in  other  foreign  countries. 

But  I  do  not  believe  this  to  be  the  best  solution  of  the  problem.  The  European 
nations,  as  well  as  Japan  and  Mexico,  have  learned  the  value  of  specialization  in 
banking — the  desirability  of  organizing  banks  adequately  equipped  with  the  powers 
for  doing  the  work  in  hand.  Sometime  we  shall  adopt  that  principle  here.  Let  us 
adopt  it  now  if  we  are  to  enter  the  foreign  banking  field  with  any  hope  of  success. 
We  must  not  venture  into  that  field  in  our  weakness  but  in  our  might.  I  think  we 
have  had  enough  already  of  weak  attempts  to  establish  American  banks  in  certain 
foreign  countries,  with  a  result  that  might  have  been  foreseen. 

If  we  are  to  have  a  foreign  bank  worth  anything,  its  capital  must  from  the 
outset  be  large  enough  to  command  respect,  and  its  management  must  rigidly  con- 


form  to  the  soundest  requirements  of  banking.  An  institution  that  would  not  only 
promote  enterprise  and  develop  trade,  but  that  would  add  to  our  prestige  and  increase 
the  respect  of  others  for  our  business  methods. 

While  it  is  very  natural  and  proper  that  a  bank  of  the  character  mentioned 
should  find  its  first  sphere  of  operations  among  our  neighbors  of  Central  and  South 
America,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  its  sphere  should  not  be  limited  to  those  coun- 
tries. I  believe  the  time  to  be  ripe  for  the  formation  of  an  International  American 
Bank,  with  a  capital  of  not  less  than  $100,000,000,  having  is  head  office  in  New  York, 
with  branches  in  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  New  Orleans,  San  Francisco,  and  in  the  great 
commercial  centres  of  the  world.  It  would,  of  course,  be  one  of  the  first  duties  of 
such  a  bank  to  do  everything  essential  to  the  mutual  development  of  trade  and 
enterprise  between  Latin  America  and  the  United  States. 

It  is  beyond  my  purpose,  at  the  present  time,  to  elaborate  a  plan  for  the  organi- 
zation of  this  bank.  That  is  a  detail  for  future  consideration.  Whether  or  not  the 
sanction  of  Congress  could  be  had  for  such  an  institution,  I  do  not  know.  The 
prestige  afforded  by  a  Federal  charter  would  be  helpful,  but  may  not  be  indispensable. 
It  might  be  advisable  to  organize  first,  under  State  laws,  a  Pan-American  Bank,  and 
the  capital  might  be  partis'  furnished  here  and  partly  in  the  countries  where  the 
banks  are  to  be  located.  It  may  be  remarked,  in  passing,  that  the  trust  company  is 
something  practically  unknown  in  Latin  America.  There  are  legal  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  establishing  such  institutions  there,  though  these  may  be  overcome.  Judging 
from  the  experience  of  the  trust  company' in  the  United  States,  Latin  America  ought 
to  furnish  an  inviting  field  for  the  establishment  of  such  institutions.  In  fact,  a 
movement  is  now  under  way  to  organize  a  trust  company  in  one  of  the  principal 
Latin  American  nations  The  particulars  of  this  movement  I  am  not  at  liberty  to 
disclose. 

One  thing  we  must  remember — there  should  be  international  reciprocity  in 
banking  as  well  as  in  trade.  If  we  expect  to  invade  Mexico,  Central  and  South 
America  with  our  banks,  we  must  expect  the  banks  of  those  countries  to  come  here. 
And  if  we  restrict  the  operations  of  their  banks  here,  we  may  expect  them  to  throw 
like  restrictions  around  our  banks  there.  Already  many  foreign  banks  have  agencies 
in  New  York  and  other  American  cities,  but  the  State  laws  generally  prohibit  these 
agencies  from  doing  a  banking  business ;  that  is,  they  may  not  receive  deposits,  and 
thus  their  ability  to  make  loans  is  largely  curtailed.  Can  we  reasonably  expect  that 
Latin  America  will  allow  privileges  to  our  banks  which  we  deny  to  theirs? 

As  the  importance  of  the  United  States  as  an  exporter  of  manufactured  prod- 
ucts grows  each  year,  and  competition  becomes  keener,  the  need  of  an  institution 
like  that  herein  suggested  will  become  more  and  more  apparent.  It  is  wise  to  dis- 
cuss this  question  now.  It  would  be  wiser  perhaps  to  stop  discussion  and  begin  to 
take  action. 

One  thing  should  be  borne  in  mind — that  the  interests  of  those  whom  we  are 
seeking  to  make  our  customers  should  be  most  carefully  regarded.  A  Latin-Ameri- 
can Bank  whose  operations  might  in  any  way  serve  to  provoke  the  antagonism  of 
the  banks  already  existing,  or  that  would  meddle  in  political  affairs,  might  do  much 
more  harm  than  good.  But  a  Pan- American  Bank,  or  one  of  the  broader  scope  indi- 
cated, properly  organized  and  rightly  managed,  would  be  a  powerful  instrumentality 
in  developing  enterprise  and  trade,  to  the  mutual  benefit  of  ourselves  and  of  the 
other  countries  concerned. 

MR.  NOEL:  I  would  like  to  ask  the  gentleman  to  tell  us  something  about  any 
successful  American  banks  in  Latin  America,  also  trust  companies. 

MR.  YOUNGMAN  :  That  is  a  story,  I  think,  very  quickly  told,  because  there  are 
very  few  banks  there  of  any  kind.  The  International  Banking  Corporation,  as  you 
gentlemen  are  perhaps  well  aware,  has  a  branch  office  in  South  America.  I  am  not 
sure  whether  it  has  one  in  Panama  or  not. 

MR.  LINDSAY:    It  has  one  in  Panama. 

MR.  YOUNGMAN  :  Thank  you.  I  regret  to  say  I  have  not  visited  Latin  Ameri- 
can countries.  I  did  observe  this  in  Mexico,  however,  and  I  would  not  wish  to  be 
understood  as  reflecting  on  American  banks  in  Mexico — all  honor  for  the  strength 
and  courage  they  have  shown — but  I  did  observe  this,  and  I  think  it  is  a  matter  we 
Americans  ought  to  think  about:  American  banks  in  Mexico  are  very  small,  and, 
compared  with  Mexican  banks,  they  must  be  called  weak,  so  far  as  resources  and 
capital  are  concerned.  But  what  do  you  see?  You  see  the  Bank  of  Montreal  and 
the  Canadian  Bank  of  Commerce,  which  are,  of  course,  recognized  to  be  great 

223 


Canadian  banks  and  greatest  on  this  continent.  They  have  branches  in  the  City  of 
Mexico,  while  none  of  our  American  banks  are  equally  represented. 

MR.  WALKER  :  I  wanted  to  make  a  small  remittance  to  Brazil,  and  I  found 
I  could  not  buy  an  international  money  order  like  I  could  if  I  wanted  to  send  the 
money  to  France  or  England;  but  on  consulting  my  banker  he  told  me  to  buy  a 
draft  on  London.  Now,  why  could  not  I  have  used  a  draft  on  New  York? 

MR.  YOUNGMAN  :   I  am  sorry  to  say  I  cannot  give  the  answer  to  that  question. 

A  little  story  occurred  and  came  to  me  from  a  correspondent  in  the  far  East. 
He  said  he  knew  a  case  of  a  man  who  went  to  a  bank  with  a  draft  drawn  on  one 
of  the  three  or  four  largest  banks  in  New  York  city,  and,  of  course,  among  the 
largest  in  the  United  States,  and  that  bank  refused  to  cash  the  draft  because  it  had 
never  heard  of  this  bank  in  New  York.  Let  us  start  a  bank  they  will  hear  about. 

MR.  WALKER:  The  authorities  said  the  best  way  to  remit  money  to  Brazil 
was  by  London  exchange.  Why  does  not  American  banks]  exchange  go  to  Brazil  ? 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  New  York  or  American  exchange  does  go  to 
Brazil,  only  there  are  certain  banks  that  prefer  to  do  it  the  other  way. 

MR.  LOWE:  All  I  can  say  is  that  I  have  made  remittance  to  Brazil  with  a 
check  on  New  York  and  it  was  accepted. 

MR.  OLT:  I  can  answer  that  New  York  drafts  can  be  sold  in  the  city  of  Rio, 
but  you  cannot  sell  them  at  every  bank.  Your  correspondent  must  go  from  one  bank 
to  the  other.  I  know  that  from  experience.  I  have  bought  New  York  drafts  and 
sold  them  in  Rio,  and  I  have  bought  in  Rio,  drafts  on  New  York  and  saved  a  slight 
amount  in  commission  thereby. 

QUESTION:  I  would  like  to  ask  whether  it  is  true  that  United  States  money 
is  not  standard  on  the  east  and  west  coasts  of  South  America.  All  authorities  in 
this  meeting  have  told  me  that  pounds  sterling  prevails. 

MR.  MANNING:  I  was  going  to  say  that  on  the  east. coast  I  know  I  have  seen 
American  letters  of  credit  in  use  a  number  of  times,  and  no  one  has  ever  had  any 
trouble  cashing  them  at  any  Colombian  or  Venezuelan  port,  and  I  do  not  see  why 
there  would  be  trouble  satisfying  the  bank,  provided  there  was  proper  identification, 
and  I  have  never  found  a  place  in  South  America  where  they  would  not  rather  have 
the  American  gold  than  any  other  money  made  in  the  world. 

MR.  LINDSAY  :  My  experience  is  that  if  you  are  going  to  either  the  east  or 
west  coast  a  New  York  bank — and  I  have  dealt  with  several  of  them — will  give  you 
a  letter  of  credit  in  pounds  sterling.  I  have  never  asked  them  why.  It  was  good 
enough,  and  I  have  never  made  inquiry.  There  is  undoubtedly  some  reason  why  it 
is  done. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  A  New  York  letter  of  credit  will  be  accepted  on 
the  east  coast  without  any  difficulty  if  presented  to  certain  banks.  I  have  not  had 
any  experience  on  the  west  coast. 

MR.  NOEL  :  I  have  known  of  a  dozen  cases.  You  can  buy  express  orders  and 
get  them  cashed  in  Latin  American  countries. 

MR.  MONTGOMERY  :  A  letter  of  credit  on  New  York  will  be  accepted  anywhere 
in  South  America,  but  in  some  countries  it  is  preferable  to  have  a  letter  of  credit 
on  London,  that  is  to  say,  in  pounds  sterling,  because  there  is  less  loss  in  exchange, 
and  in  some  countries — Bolivia,  Peru  and  Ecuador — the  pound  sterling  circulates 
currently,  and  when  you  get  your  pounds  sterling  you  have  the  money  of  the  country. 
In  Panama  a  letter  of  credit  on  New  York  is  preferable,  but,  generally  speaking,  a 
letter  of  credit  in  pounds  sterling  is  preferable  in  South  America  to  letters  of  credit 
on  New  York,  for  the  reason  that  you  lose  less  in  exchange. 

MR.  FOWLER  :  I  would  say  that  Ecuador,  Peru  and  Bolivia  all  have  gold  coin- 
age, which  has  an  intrinsic  value,  called  pound  sterling  of  England ;  and  Chile 
likewise.  Although  not  down  to  the  currency  value  of  the  pounds  sterling,  it  has, 
nevertheless,  intrinsic  value  corresponding  to  the  pound  sterling.  It  is  quite  natural 
pounds  sterling  would  pass  current,  since  it  is  made  legal  tender  in  many  of  these 
countries. 

Miss  ANNIE  S.  PECK  :  What  I  was  going  to  say  has  already  been  said.  I  had 
a  draft  on  the  house  of  W.  R.  Grace  &  Co.,  and  the  English  sovereign  being  a  gold 
coin  exactly  equivalent  to  the  Peruvian  gold  pound,  of  course  you  can  see,  if  you  take 
it  in  English  gold,  it  is  exactly  the  same ;  and  if  you  have  a  draft  calling  either  for 
English  gold  or  Peruvian  gold,  of  course  it  is  very  simple  and  much  easier;  no 
bother  about  reckoning,  that  is,  in  changing  them  into  pounds,  $4.85,  or  whatever 
it  is.  You  simply  get  your  money  and  pay  the  equivalent  in  English  gold  through 
your  dollars,  and  then  you  take  it  down  there  and  you  are  all  right.  Of  course, 

224 


that  is  very  much  easier  and  more  simple  than  to  bother  with  any  exchange  after 
you  get  there. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  The  sum  and  substance  of  it  is  this:  English 
exchange  is  preferred  at  the  present  time  for  the  good  reasons  given.  A  letter  of 
credit  on  New  York  will  be  accepted  if  you  give  it  at  the  right  banks,  though  pos- 
sibly not  at  quite  as  good  rate  as  the  other. 

QUESTION  :  Why  is  it  I  can  go  to  the  United  States  postoffice  and  buy  a 
money  order  payable  in  France,  and  cannot  buy  a  money  order  payable  in  Brazil  ? 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  think  it  is  due,  from  my  experience,  to  the 
fact  that  -there  is  not  yet  an  agreement  to  cover  that  in  the  International  Postal 
Agreement  in  those  countries,  just  as  we  have  been  developing  certain  phases  of  the 
postal  service  which  Mr.  Miles  will  speak  on  in  a  few  minutes. 

MR.  DOWNS  :  I  think  you  have  a  graphic  illustration  on  the  walls  of  the  room 
here  why  English  exchange  is  preferred.  If  you  will  look  at  the  charts  that  rep- 
resent the  export  of  the  South  American  countries,  and  compare  the  size  of  the  blue 
with  the  other  colors,  you  will  see  that  the  bulk  of  exports  are  to  Europe;  hence 
there  is  a  much  larger  demand  for  remittance  to  Europe  than  to  the  United  States, 
and  hence  English  exchange  is  more  in  demand. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  am  about  to  give  you  a  very  interesting,  and, 
to  me,  a  most  tangible  illustration  of  how  far-reaching  the  influence  of  this  Confer- 
ence is  in  a  very  unexpected  form.  I  am  going  to  ask  the  distinguished  Minister 
from  Colombia,  Dr.  Borda,  to  rise  while  I  read  this  little  message  that  he  has  given 
me.  He  states  he  has  received  from  Colombia,  by  cable,  inquiry  as  to  whether  mer- 
chants in  this  Conference  wrould  like  to  interest  themselves  in  enterprises  such  as 
railroads,  electric  plants  for  motive  power  and  in  purchases  of  tobacco  and  cigars 
which  are  as  good  as  those  from  Havana,  and  in  the  trade  of  Panama  hats  and  the 
exportation  of  petroleum  deposits.  If  there  are  any  delegates  here  interested  in  such 
subjects,  the  Colombian  Minister  will  be  glad  to  give  any  information,  if  they  will 
kindly  call  at  the  Colombian  Legation  at  the  Portland,  Vermont  avenue  and  I4th 
street. 

In  this  connection,  I  want  to  say  to  you,  to  show  you  the  interest  that  is  being 
taken,  that  every  one  of  the  newspaper  correspondents  of  the  Mexican,  Central  and 
South  American  newspapers  in  New  York  have  been  asking  for  full  information 
about  this  Conference,  stating  that  they  had  received  orders  to  report  what  it  was 
doing;  and  each  night  there  has  been  going  down  8000  or  9000  miles  by  cable;  to 
the  remotest  parts  of  South  America,  the  record  of  each  day's  proceedings.  That 
gives  an  idea  of  the  Conference's  power. 

We  are  going  to  have,  in  the  closing,  what  I  would  call  a  sort  of  commercial 
praise  meeting,  in  which  all  the  addresses  will  be  limited  to  three  or  four  minutes, 
with  just  one  exception. 

By  kind  permission  of  Postmaster  General  Hitchcock,  and  by  his  own  personal 
kindness,  Mr.  Basil  Miles,  of  the  Postoffice  Department,  who  has  charge  of  all 
negotiations  for  the  development  of  the  parcels  post  of  South  America,  which  is  so 
very  important  to  you  all,  has  consented  to  come  here  and  say  a  few  words. 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  BASIL  MILES,  OF  THE 
POST-OFFICE  DEPARTMENT 

Mr.  MILES  said : 

I  feel  some  timidity  in  speaking  on  such  a  big  subject,  but  I  think  it  is  an 
extraordinary  opportunity  to  bring  to  everybody  concerned  with  our  interests  in 
South  America  what  the  Postoffice  Department  has  been  able  to  do  and  what  we  are 
still  trying  to  do.  At  present  there  is  a  parcels  post  service  to  every  country  in 
South  America  and  Central  America,  except  to  Argentina  and  to  Brazil. 

Conventions  have  recently  been  concluded  with  Brazil,  and  will  go  into  effect 
very  shortly ;  and  with  Argentina  we  are  trying  to  get  a  convention ;  but  there  is  a 
parcels  post  service  to  all  those  other  countries,  and  you  can  send  merchandise  at  12 
cents  a  pound  up  to  f  I  pounds  in  weight  by  the  most  direct  mail  routes,  and  with  the 
certainty  of  the  delivery  and  the  simplest  possible  customs  formalities;  and  also 
with  the  certainty  that  if  the  parcel  does  not  get  delivered,  because  the  address  is 
difficult  to  find,  the  parcel  will  be  returned  to  you ;  and  the  same  thing  exists  with 

225 


regard  to  those  interested  in  the  South  American  question  in  sending  parcels  to 
this  country ;  and  I  personally  feel  that  our  relations  in  every  way  would  be  improved 
if  people  took  advantage  of  the  service  more  at  the  other  end;  in  other  words,  if 
we  got  more  parcels  from  South  America.  I  am  afraid  to  say  it  is  twenty  or  thirty 
to  one  in  proportion;  and  I  do  not  know  that  all  of  the  American  exporters  are 
familiar  with  the  parcels  post  as  operated.  But  I  think  I  may  describe,  shortly,  if 
I  may  be  allowed  to,  Mr.  Director. 

The  parcel  is  taken  to  the  postoffice,  and  you  put  the  requisite  postage  of  12 
cents  a  pound  on  it,  and  make  out  simple  customs  declaration  instead  of  invoice,  and 
.mail  your  parcel;  and,  in  most  cases,  you  can  obtain  a  mailing  receipt  for  your 
parcel,  and,  with  certain  countries,  you  can  obtain  a  certificate  that  the  parcel  had 
been  delivered.  You  can  send  all  kinds  of  leather  goods  and  hardware  and  cotton 
cloths;  and  I  could  go  on  enumerating  the  things  that  can  be  sent  by  parcels  post. 
A  great  many  of  the  large  mail-order  houses  in  the  large  centers  are  beginning 
to  take  advantage  of  it;  but  what  I  would  like  everybody  to  understand,  both 
those  who  are  concerned  with  the  United  States  and  also  those  countries  in  South 
America,  is  that  the  Postoffice  Department  is  trying  to  develop  this  branch  of  the 
service,  which  is  not  provided  for  in  the  international  mail.  Under  the  Postal 
Union,' under  which  all  ordinary  correspondence  is  transferred  from  one  country 
to  another,  there  is  no  provision  for  the  transmission  of  any  merchandise.  You 
have  got  to  pay  the  letter  rate  on  it.  You  can  send  samples,  it  is  true,  but  very 
limited  in  size  and  character,  accurately  distinguished  and,  in  fact,  absolutely  of 
no  use  for  commercial  purposes,  and  must  be  proved  so.  But  for  ordinary  mer- 
chandise there  is  no  means  of  that  conveyance  in  the  international  mails,  except 
at  the  letter  rate  of  postage,  which  is  prohibitive,  but  by  the  parcels  post.  Especially 
for  that  purpose,  the  Department  has  built  up  one  country  at  a  time,  making  special 
arrangements  in  each  case,  a  service  which  now,  as  I  say,  embraces  every  country 
in  Central  and  South  America,  except  Argentina — because  I  think  we  may  con- 
sider Brazil  as  practically  included,  and  only  waiting  ratification  by  the  President 
of  the  United  States ;  so  that,  excepting  that  one  country,  we  have  this  service. 
And,  personally,  if  I  could  be  of  any  use  in  describing  the  system  further  or 
answering  any  questions  I  would  be  pleased  to. 

I  might  state,  in  addition  to  what  I  have  said,  that  the  postage  rate  of  12  cents 
per  pound  is  considerably  less  than  what  you  can  send  a  parcel  to  those  countries 
by  express  for — about  one-third  less. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  Now,  is  there  some  question  about  the  operation 
of  the  parcels  post  which  some  of  you  would  like  to  know? 

MR.  GORHAM  :  I  would  like  to  ask  if  under  the  arrangements  being  made 
and  having  been  concluded  in  regard  to  parcels  post  negotiations  with  South 
American  countries  we  will  be  permitted  to  register  parcel  packages  to  all  those 
countries? 

MR.  MILES  :  Not  to  all,  but  most  of  them.  As  a  matter  of  fact  you  can 
register  to  all  those  countries,  except  Guiana. 

QUESTION  :  I  represent  two  or  three  important  companies  who  have  done 
business  with  South  America.  I  would  like  to  know  if  the  general  principle  of  the 
parcels  post  idea  is  to  be  conveyed  or  extended  to  South  American  countries,  with 
reference  to  the  idea  of  sending  samples  and  pamphlets  and  other  things  under  the 
conditions  of  those  propositions,  so  that  the  postage  to  those  countries  would  be 
commensurate  with  the  parcels  post  in  this  country;  that  is  to. say,  whether,  paying 
the  ordinary  rate  upon  it  would  be  the  postage  to  those  countries,  and  come  under 
the  lower  rate  of  the  parcels  post  in  this  country,  and  does  the  Government  intend 
to  extend  that,  encouraging  the  parcels  post  idea  in  the  South  American  trade? 

MR.  MILES  :  I  can  answer  that  question  by  this,  that  the  parcels  post,  as 
proposed,  is  called  our  "domestic  post,"  which  requires  Congressional  action.  The 
postage  rate  is  not  definitely  fixed,  and  as  soon  as  it  is  established,  the  rate  to  the 
foreign  countries  will  be  considered  in  connection  with  the  rate  which  may  be 
adopted  here. 

QUESTION  :  I  simply  wanted  to  know  whether  the  general  principle  would 
apply  to  South  American  trade  under,  all  the  conditions  in  regard  to  breakage  and 
everything  else. 

MR.  MILES  :     It  would  be  considered,  doubtless. 

MR.  FOWLER:  I  would  like  to  ask  Mr.  Miles,  Mr.  Director,  whether  any  step 
is  being  taken  toward  an  improvement  at  Panama.  Many  of  us  who  trade  on  the 
west  coast  of  South  America  experience  the  uncertainty  of  the  mail  service  beyond 

226 


Panama.  From  here  to  Panama  we  have  frequent  service;  from  Panama  down 
we  have  a  first-class  fortnightly  service  and  intermediate  service  weekly.  The 
express  service  will  take  your  mail  from  Panama  to  Callao  in  seven  days  and  to 
Valparaiso  in  thirteen  or  fourteen  days,  but  very  often  that  express  collected  at 
Panama  is  lost,  because  there  is  an  inheritance  of  the  former  times  whereunder  the 
mails  of  Panama  are  delivered  to  the  British  Consul  by  the  English  line  and  to 
the  Chilean  Consul,  but  if  those  consuls  do  not  happen  to  be  there  or  it  happens 
to  be  Sunday,  the  mail  is  lost;  and  in  recent  times  the  mail  service  is  far  worse 
than  it  has  been  for  twenty  years,  simply  because  of  the  lack  of  the  postal  bureau 
in  Panama. 

I  know  complaints  reach  the  Postmaster  General  at  Washington.  I  would 
like  to  know  whether  any  steps  are  being  taken  to  remedy  those  conditions. 

MR.  MILES  :  There  are.  In  the  first  place,  the  Postmaster  General  has  a 
written  contract  route  from  New  Orleans  to  Valparaiso  through  the  canal,  either 
fortnightly  or  once  a  month,  stopping  at  ports.  At  present  the  Department  is  con- 
ducting an  investigation  to  see  how  they  can  make  those  connections  better,  on  the 
other  side,  particularly  the  fortnightly  service  from  Panama  down. 

About  the  manufactured  matter — I  do  not  quite  understand  the  gentleman's 
question,  but  there  are  a  number  of  countries  in  South  America  with  which  the 
Department  has  been  unable  to  conclude  manufacturer  conventions,  and  Brazil  is 
one  of  them,  I  think,  and  Bolivia  and  Ecuador ;  and  it  is  not  the  fault  of  the  Post- 
office  Department  that  the  service  does  not  exist. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:    Thank  you  very  much,  Mr.  Miles. 

Dr.  W.  P.  WILSON,  Director  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Mu- 
seum, took  the  floor. 

DR.  WILSON  :  I  wish  to  arise  to  a  question  of  personal  privilege  before  this 
Conference.  There  are  certain  times  in  such  a  meeting  as  this  when  you  must  take 
advantage  of  the  presiding  officer  for  a  moment. 

You  have  already  realized  the  magnificent  conduct  of  this  Conference,  and 
the  influence  which  it  may  have  for  the  next  years  covering  Latin  America.  You 
cannot  estimate,  considering  the  information  that  we  have  gained  here,  the  matter 
in  dollars  and  cents.  This  Congress  has  been  thought  up  and  called  together  by 
our  presiding  officer,  Mr.  Barrett. 

I  want  to  suggest  that  before  we  leave  we  have  a  committee  appointed  here 
which  shall  recognize  and  take  into  due  consideration  the  magnificent  work  which 
Mr.  Barrett  has  done  in  this  convention — in  calling  this  Conference  together. 

The  consideration  of  a  question  of  this  kind,  or  the  consideration  of  the 
importance  of  this  Conference,  cannot  be  done  offhand.  I  am  going  to  propose, 
therefore,  that  we  have  a  committee ;  that  the  committee  be  immediately  appointed 
to  take  in  hand  this  question,  and  to  report  here  a  few  minutes  later,  and  with  your 
permission,  if  you  will  give  me  that  permission,  I  am  going  to  suggest  that  com- 
mittee and  have  you  ratify  it.  I  will  suggest  a  committee  of  seven,  Mr.  John  A. 
Patterson,  of  the  National  Cash  Register;  Mr.  H.  L.  Jones,  of  the  United  States 
Steel  Products  Association;  Mr.  Bernard  N.  Baker,  of  New  Orleans;  Mr.  A.  B. 
Farquahar,  of  York,  Pennsylvania;  Mr.  Harrison  C.  Lewis,  of  the  National  Paper 
&  Type  Co. ;  Mr.  W.  M.  Bunker,  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  San  Francisco, 
and  Mr.  C.  A.  Green,  representing  R.  G.  Dun  &  Co. 

If  the  Conference  is  in  harmony  with  the  selection  of  that  committee,  will  you 
please  say  Aye.  There  is  no  contrary. 

I  will  ask  the  committee  to  retire  and  formulate  sufficient  resolutions,  in 
harmony  with  the  great  magnitude  and  the  influence  of  this  Conference,  to  com- 
memorate the  act  which  Mr.  John  Barrett  has  so  successfully  and  delightfully  car- 
lied  through,  ending  shortly,  on  this  Friday  afternoon. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  am  sure  you  will  excuse  me  from  making 
any  reply  to  that,  because  I  feel  that  the  gratitude  should  be  from  myself  towards 
you,  rather  than  from  you  towards  me,  because  you  have  so  cordially  accepted  my 
invitation. 

I  want  to  say  that  if  there  is  any  gratitude  due  me  for  what  I  have  done 
here,  that  it  must  include  the  Assistant  Director,  Mr.  Francisco  J.  Yanes ;  that  it 
must  include  the  Chief  Clerk,  Mr.  Franklin  Adams ;  and  it  must  also  include  a  num- 
ber of  members  of  my  staff  who  have  assisted  me  from  the  beginning  in  every  way 

227 


possible:  Mr.  Wells,  Mr.  Montgomery,  Dr.  Albert  Hale,  Mr.  Amores,  Mr.  Lacalle, 
Captain  Fortescue,  Mr.  Babcock,  Mr.  Griffin,  Mr.  Hollender,  Mr.  Kolb,  Mr.  Baker, 
Mr.  Sandberg,  Mr.  Mitchell,  Mr.  Kerbey,  Mr.  Martin,  Mr.  Godoy  and  many 
others  of  my  staff,  all  of  whom  have  worked  unselfishly  to  make  this  occasion  a 
success.  The  rest  of  the  staff,  who  are  not  directly  connected  with  the  work  of  it, 
have  been  doing  extra  work  in  order  that  those  on  this  committee  could  devote 
their  time  to  you;  and,  moreover,  I  wish  to  express  particular  thanks  to,  and  I  believe 
that  the  gratitude  is  due  them  of  the  many  specialists  and  authorities  whose  names 
are  on  this  list,  who  have  come  here  and  given  hearty  co-operation  in  all  of  our 
debates  and  deliberations,  and  given  their  time  and  their  energies. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  say  that  if  there  is  any  gratitude  it  is  upon  my  part 
towards  you,  as  well  as  you  towards  me,  and  I  shall  feel  amply  rewarded  if  I  know 
that  the  majority  of  you  go  away,  feeling  that  we  have  done  a  little  something  here 
for  the  development  of  the  Pan  American  commerce  and  comity. 

Yesterday  and  the  day  before  we  were  fortunate  in  having  Bishop  Kinsolving, 
who  gave  us  a  number  of  interesting  short  addresses.  I  am  now  going  to  call  Father 
Currier,  who  has  made  an  extensive  trip  around  Latin  America,  who  has  written 
extensively  upon  that  part  of  the  world,  and  then  the  others  will  follow  in  quick 
succession— Mr.  William  E.  Curtis,  one  of  the  best  authorities,  I  am  going  to  ask 
to  say  a  word  very  soon. 

REV.  CHAS.  WARREN  CURRIER:  I  came  here  as  a  listener,  not  as  a  speaker,  as 
a  guest  and  not  as  a  delegate ;  and  consequently  I  was  very  much  surprised  when  in- 
formed that  I  would  be  called  upon  to  say  something.  What  shall  I  say?  The  ground 
has  been  so  thoroughly  and  absolutely  covered  in  this  magnificently  managed  Con- 
ference that,  really,  I  am  at  a  loss  what  to  say.  One  thought  flashes  across  my  mind 
at  this  moment,  and  I  shall  reflect  it  upon  you. 

The  question  was  asked  this  morning  as  to  whether  there  was  any  American 
influence  in  the  work  of  education  in  Spanish  America ;  and  I  possibly  may  supple- 
ment slightly  the  answer  of  Professor  Rowe.  I  think  that  in  the  last  few  years 
American  influence  in  educational  matters  of  Spanish  America  has  been  on  the 
increase,  especially  in  Brazil,  for  I  am  well  informed  that  normal  schools  in  Brazil 
were  directed  in  the  beginning  by  American  teachers,  American  directors  and 
directresses. 

You  are  probably  aware  of  the  American  influence  that  has  been  exercised 
for  many  years  in  the  City  of  San  Paulo.  The  educational  center  of  Brazil,  Mackenzie 
College,  is  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Lane.  1  may  add  Bento  College,  in  the  same 
city,  is  under  the  direction  of  two  gentlemen  who  may  be  called  Americans,  Don 
Miguel  Krause,  who  spent  several  years  of  his  life  in  America,  and  Father  Caton, 
an  American  by  birth. 

In  Chile,  the  pedagogical  system,  until  quite  recently,  was  German ;  but  in  the 
last  six  years  American  methods  have  been  introduced.  Two  years  ago  Misses  Agnes 
Brown  and  Carolina  Burson  conducted  normal  schools  in  Santiago  and  Concepcion, 
and  with  great  success.  Dr.  Barth,  of  Colombia,  is  an  American ;  the  director  of  the 
University  of  Cuzco;  the  director  of  astronomy  of  the  observatory  of  La  Plata,  and 
also  the  director  of  astronomy  of  the  observatory  in  Cordova  are  of  our  nationality. 

Many  instances  might  be  suggested,  but  what  I  have  said  is  sufficient  for 
you  to  see  that  American  influence  in  educational  matters  throughout  South  Amer- 
ica is  on  the  increase;  and  the  Spanish  South  Americans,  with  whom  I  am  best 
acquainted,  are  anxious  that  we  should  exercise  that  influence. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Mr.  Curtis,  we  appreciate  how  kind  you  are 
to  come,  because  of  your  serious  accident.  I  just  learned  you  were  in  the  room, 
and  I  ask  you  just  to  say  a  word  of  greeting  to  this  Conference. 

I  wish  to  say  that  Mr.  Curtis  was  the  first  director  of  the  Pan  American 
Union,  first  as  the  International  Bureau  of  American  Republics,  nearly  twenty 
years  ago. 

MR.  CURTIS:  It  is  a  great  gratification  to  be  here,  and  I  should  have  been 
here  before,  but  for  a  slight  accident  that  has  kept  me  at  home.  It  is  a  great  grati- 
fication to  me,  personally,  because  I  have  been  trying  to  reach  this  goal,  which  Mr. 
Barrett  has  reached,  for  twenty-five  or  thirty  years.  I  began  to  try  and  interest  the 
people  of  the  United  States  in  the  trade  of  Central  and  South  America  away  back 
in  1884,  and  I  feel  that  it  has  been  a  lot  of  hard  work,  with  very  little  results.  I 
remember  once  meeting  a  Methodist  circuit  rider,  a  home  missionary  down  in 
Southwestern  Missouri,  and,  riding  along  with  him  over  the  road  one  day,  I  asked 
him  how  long  he  had  been  there.  He  said  he  had  been  there  for  forty  years.  And 

228 


I  said,  "Have  you  converted  anybody?"  He  turned  around  and  in  an  indignant 
way  he  said,  "Do  you  suppose  that  anybody  could  have  come  down  into  this  country 
and  staid  forty  years  to  tell  people  that  Jesus  Christ  died  to  save  sinners  without 
getting  somebody  to  believe  it?"  And  that  is  very  much  my  way.  Salvation  is  free, 
but  we  have  to  offer  all  sorts  of  inducements  for  people  to  accept  it.  The  commerce 
of  South  and  Central  America  is  free,  but  we  have  had  to  offer  all  kinds  of  argu- 
ments and  inducements  to  persuade  our  people  to  go  down  and  get  it.  They  could 
have  had  it  forty  years  ago,  they  could  have  had  it  sixty  years  ago,  if  they  had  had 
enterprise  enough  to  have  taken  the  offer  of  William  Wheelright,  who  established 
the  Pacific  Steam  Navigation  Company,  one  of  the  largest  steamship  owners  in  the 
world,  to  cultivate  that  country  and  cultivate  that  trade. 

People  say,  however,  that  our  lack  of  trade  is  due  to  our  neglect.  But  I 
think  there  is  a  more  charitable  construction  to  be  put  upon  the  situation.  We  have 
been  so  much  engaged  in  our  own  affairs,  we  have  had  so  much  to  do  at  home, 
pur  profits  in  trading  at  home  have  been  so  great  that  there  has  been  very  little 
inducement,  except  in  hard  times,  for  us  to  go  down  there ;  but  we  are  getting  to  be 
a  world  power;  our  people  are  going  everywhere,  including  Central  and  South 
America. 

I  am  glad  to  see  so  many  people  here  and  so  many  people  of  this  class ;  and 
it  indicates  that  the  merchants  and  manufacturers  of  the  United  States  are  taking 
an  active  interest  and  that  the  work  that  we  have  done  has  not  been  lost. 

I  thank  you,  gentlemen,  for  this  privilege. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  We  are  to  be  favored  now  by  a  gentleman 
familiar  with  Latin  America,  who  was  Governor  of  Panama  when  I  had  the  honor 
of  being  Minister  there,  and  was  Special  Envoy  to  Central  America  on  the  Panamaian 
Committee,  General  George  W.  Davis,  who  will  say  just  a  word  or  two. 

GENERAL  DAVIS  :  You  observed  that  the  Director  in  asking  me  to  say  a  few 
words  has  prefixed  my  name  by  a  military  title,  and  in  an  audience  of  this  sort  it  is 
very  difficult  for  me  to  understand  what  function  the  military  man  has  got  to 
perform. 

The  whole  of  my  life  has  been  spent  and  passed  in  expending  the  money  that 
other  people  have  produced — farmers,  merchants,  manufacturers — and  in  that 
character  I  have  been  charged  with  certain  duties  and  responsibilities ;  but  here  is 
a  body  of  men  who  are  looking  to  the  extension  of  trade,  to  increases  of  resources, 
and  my  experience  has  not  been  of  a  kind  to  assist  you  or  promote  the  ends  that 
you  have  in  view.  Those  ends,  I  take  it,  are  that  these  blue  segments  and  these 
graphic  representations  of  trade  with  Latin  America  shall  be  increased  in  the  future 
with  a  corresponding  diminution  of  the  segments  in  other  colors.  I  take  it  is  your 
object;  therefore,  it  is  based  upon  competition — a  struggle  for  supremacy,  a  rivalry, 
generous  and  honorable,  but  that  is  your  object  to  increase  the  area  of  the  blue 
segments,  and  I  hope  you  may  be  successful.  It  is  worthy  of  the  best  effort. 

I  have  seen  a  little  of  Latin  America.  Mr.  Barrett  has  been  kind  enough 
to  use  an  exaggerated  expression,  but  what  I  have  seen  of  it  has  convinced  me  that 
it  has  resources  almost  limitless ;  that  it  is  but  to  have  the  guiding  hand  of  its  wiser 
statesmen  to  assure  a  most  extraordinary  development. 

This  last  century  for  the  United  States  has  been  one  of  wonderful  progress. 
Mr.  Laurier,  of  Canada,  said  in  one  of  his  recent  speeches,  "The  Nineteenth  century 
belonged  to  the  United  States,  but  the  Twentieth  century  is  Canada's."  It  seems 
to  me  that  that  is  an  incomplete  expression — that  Latin  America  should  in  the  next 
century  show  what  the  United  States  has  shown  in  the  last. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  think  it  is  most  fitting  that  a  committee  be 
appointed  to  express  appreciation  to  the  members  of  the  Governing  Board  of  the 
Pan  American  Union,  the  Secretary  of  State  and  the  Latin  American  Ambassadors 
and  Ministers  forming  that  Governing  Board,  who  have  given  their  hearty  support 
to  this  Conference,  by  being  present  and  making  addresses.  Therefore,  if  you  have 
no  objection,  I  am  going  to  appoint  Mr.  Wilson  chairman  of  the  committee;  and  to 
select  a  few  resolutions  expressive  of  our  gratitude  to  them. 

Now,  I  shall  call  upon  Mr.  Manning  for  just  two  and  a  half  minutes — Isaac  A. 
Manning,  Consul  at  La  Guaira,  whom  you  have  heard  several  times  before. 

MR.  MANNING  :  I  still  have  one  little  suggestion  left  in  my  system,  and  I 
must  get  it  out.  Therefore,  through  the  courtesy  of  the  Director  General,  I  am 
going  to  offer  it  to  you. 

A  great  deal  has  been  said  about  the  influence  of  Americans  in  the  educational 
work  of  South  America.  It  has  been  very  great,  as  Father  Currier  said,  but  the 

229 


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time  has  come,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  for  the  Spanish  to  have  an  influence  on  the 
education  of  the  United  States.  The  time  has  come  for  you  to  place  your  Spanish 
text-books  in  every  public  school  in  the  United  States.  Every  school  in  the  United 
States  should  be  required  to  teach  the  Spanish  language  to  such  a  point  that  every 
one  of  their  students  should  go  out  of  those  buildings  with  a  full  and  thorough 
knowledge,  for  both  commercial  and  social  purposes. 

One  other  thing  about  this  matter  of  the  traveling  men  mastering  the  Spanish 
language:  A  question  was  asked  a  day  of  two  ago,  "How  can  we  get  men  to  know 
the  Spanish  language  and  who  can  sell  goods?"  Salesmen  are  either  born,  or 
made  after  long,  long  days  of  study  and  hard  labor.  The  Spanish  language  may 
be  spoken  by  a  man,  but  he  may  not,  in  any  sense  of  the  word,  be  a  salesman;  but 
if  you  have  a  salesman  in  your  store,  and  you  know  he  is  a  man  whose  character 
makes  it  possible  for  him  to  approach  men,  take  him  out  of  the  store  and  pay  him 
his  salary  while  he  masters  the  Spanish  language  in  a  school;  and  begin  at  this 
end  of  the  line.  That  is  the  idea;  and  that  is  all  I  have  to  say,  but  I  want  you  to 
take  that  right  home  with  you  and  put  it  into  practice  and  soon  we  will  be  getting 
this  South  American  trade. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  think  it  is  very  beautiful;  the  energy  that  is 
behind  that,  I  think  if  we  could  have  all  over  this  world  souls  like  Mr.  Manning 
there  would  not  be  any  question  about  the  balance  of  trade. 

I  am  going  to  call  now  on  Mr.  Dudley  Bartlett,  of  the  Philadelphia  Commer- 
cial Museum. 

MR.  BARTLETT  :  I  come  on  a  run, '  because  I  do  not  want  to  waste  any  time. 
When  a  new  consul  goes  to  a  foreign  country  I  have  noticed  that  he  does  one  of 
two  things.  He  generally  does  them  both,  but  the  first  thing  he  does  is  to  write 
a  report  on  packing.  I  think  he  is  induced  to  do  that  for  two  reasons.  First,  be- 
cause he  does  recognize  the  fact  that  it  is  necessary  to  call  the  attention  of  our 
manufacturers  to  their  carelessness  in  packing;  secondly,  I  think  he  does  it  because 
there  is  such  a  wealth  of  literature  on  the  subject  that  is  available  that  it  does  not 
require  very  much  original  composition. 

Now,  the  next  thing  he  is  apt  to  do  is  to  write  to  us  about  postage.  I  think 
nothing  has  been  said  about  it.  It  is  very  important,  although  apparently  the  con- 
sideration of  short  postage  on  our  foreign  mail  has  not  been  developed  here.  I  do 
not  believe  any  consul  in  any  country  has  not  received  many,  many  letters  from 
the  United  States  which  have  come  with  short  postage.  I  have  had  brought  to 
my  attention  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  instances ;  and  not  long  ago  I  received 
from  one  man  six  envelopes,  with  cancelled  stamps,  which  he  had  received  in  one 
mail.  Each  of  these  envelopes  recently  contained  circulars  asking  his  effort,  and 
on  those  six  envelopes,  in  order  to  take  them  out  of  the  mail  and  open  them,  he 
paid  $1.20  in  extra  postage  and  fines. 

You  can  overcome  that  in  a  very  easy  manner.  I  know  one  firm  that  has 
adopted  this  plan,  and  I  want  to  make  this  suggestion  to  you:  Adopt  for  your 
foreign  correspondence  either  a  distinctive  letter-head  and  envelope,  at  least  differ- 
ing in  color  and  size  from  the  one  you  use  in  domestic  correspondence.  That  will 
call  the  attention  of  your  mailing  clerk  or  office  boy  at  once  to  the  fact  that  that 
needs  extra  postage. 

I  am  going  to  conclude  with  just  a  brief  anecdote  that  I  know  our  Minister 
Sherrill  to  Argentina  would  tell  himself  if  he  was  here,  and  I  am  glad  he  is  not, 
because  I  like  the  story  and  I  want  to  tell  it  myself.  I  think  it  epitomizes  this 
Conference — brings  to  a  focus  all  that  has  been  done  here.  It  is  a  city  boarder 
talking  to  his  country  host.  He  said,  "Mr.  Jones,  does  your  cow  give  milk?"  "No, 
son,"  said  the  farmer,  "our  cow  does  not  give  milk ;  we  have  to  go  and  take  it  from 
her." 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  going  to  call  now  for  three  minutes  on 
Mr.  Deeds,  of  the  National  Cash  Register  Co. 

MR.  EDW.  A.  DEEDS,  Vice  President  National  Cash  Register  Co.:  I  am  here 
in  response  to  a  number  of  requests  from  members  of  the  convention  asking  us  to 
tell  what  we  do  in  South  America.  I  am  here,  then,  to  relate  to  you  facts,  and  will 
not  undertake  to  make  any  suggestions  as  to  how  any  of  you  should  run  your 
business  in  South  America.  What  we  are  doing  seems  to  us  to  be  the  best  for  our 
particular  business ;  but  we  improve  from  time  to  time,  and,  if  we  can  see  some 
better  way  today,  we  will  change  tomorrow. 

Our  first  agent  was  appointed  in  South  America  about  15  years  ago,  and 

231 


was  unsuccessful.  For  the  first  five  years,  we  made  no  progress  in  the  Latin  Amer- 
ican countries.  We  failed  because  of  lack  of  interest  and  direction  on  the  part  of 
the  home  company. 

This  failure  led  to  an  investigation  of  South  American  conditions.  In  order 
to  make  this  investigation,  a  Foreign  Department  was  established  ten  years  ago. 
This  resulted  in  a  thorough  study  of  Latin  America.  This  investigation  resulted  in 
dispelling  a  lot  of  the  "colossal  ignorance"  to  which  the  Bishop  so  aptly  referred  in 
his  talk  of  yesterday. 

It  is  our  firm  belief  that  no  one  can  succeed  in  South  America  without  having 
visited  the  country  and  thoroughly  studied  its  conditions  and  possibilities.  The 
result  of  our  investigations  was  the  decision  that  the  same  policies  which  successfully 
market  our  goods  in  the  United  States  would  successfully  market  them  in  the 
other  American  countries.  With  this  as  a  basis,  we  immediately  set  about  to  organize 
our  Latin  American  business.  To  accomplish  this,  we  did  three  things : 

First — Appointed  general  agents.  We  believe  our  success  in  South  America 
has  been  due  largely  to  the  great  care  and  judgment  exercised  in  the  selection  of 
these  men.  We  selected  men  with  established  reputations;  men  who  would  be  a 
credit  to  our  company;  men  who  had  been  and  were  successful  men. 

Second — The  Manager  of  our  Foreign  Department  in  conference  with  these 
general  agents  divided  up  the  territory  and  selected  and  appointed  salesmen  in  these 
different  territories.  Here  again  the  greatest  care  was  exercised  in  the  selection 
of  men.  The  success  of  business  in  Latin  America,  the  same  as  in  any  other  country, 
depends  upon  the  selection  of  proper  men.  We  selected  native,  or  native  born  sales- 
men, believing  that  we  could  more  easily  teach  a  native  our  business  than  we  could 
teach  someone  familiar  with  our  business  the  language  and  customs  of  a  country. 

There  are  those  fine  distinctions  in  language;  there  are  those  higher  sensibili- 
ties which  are  cultivated  in  the  Latin  American  races,  which  do  not  exist  in  our 
own;  and  it  is  our  belief  that  a  native  from  the  United  States  can  never  be  taught 
these  qualities  which  we  find  so  highly  developed  among  our  brethren  to  the  South 
of  us. 

Third — and  most  important,  was  the  thorough  training  of  the  agents,  sales- 
men and  repairmen  in  these  countries.  In  the  discussions  here  for  several  days 
there  seems  to  be  a  tendency  to  recommend  that  we  send  men  from  the  United 
States  down  there  to  sell  the  product.  This  inclination  is  brought  about  on  account 
of  the  unsatisfactory  results  which  many  people  seem  to  have  had  with  the  natives. 
This  failure  is  without  question  due  to  the  lack  of  training  and  not  on  account  of 
the  lack  of  ability  of  these  men. 

We  insist  that  every  general  agent,  and  as  many  as  possible  of  the  sales- 
men and  repairmen  come  to  Dayton,  Ohio,  and  take  a  thorough  course  in  our  school 
for  salesmen  or  our  school  for  repairmen.  If  it  is  impossible  for  them  to  come  to 
Dayton,  they  attend  the  school  in  their  own  country  under  the  instruction  of  some- 
one who  was  trained  in  our  home  factory.  This  course  of  instruction  covers  from 
four  to  eight  weeks,  and  is  very  comprehensive  and  thorough.  Again,  in  order 
to  keep  up  this  school  work,  regular  conventions  are  held  in  the  different  coun- 
tries, the  general  agent  himself  instructing  the  men  in  the  policy  of  the  company. 

In  addition  to  this,  visits  are  made  by  the  manager  of  our  Foreign  Depart- 
ment to  the  agencies  to  the  southward,  and  then  in  turn  the  general  agents  visit 
the  factory  often  and  receive  general  instructions  in  the  company's  policies. 

To  work  this  out  took  the  second  five  years  of  the  15  years  we  have  under- 
taken to  do  business  in  South  America;  but  to  appoint  agents,  divide  the  territory, 
hire  salesmen,  we  found  was  not  enough.  It  was  of  utmost  importance  to  keep 
them  enthusiastic;  to  instill  into  them  the  spirit  of  the  home  organization,  and  to 
do  this,  we  found  it  necessary  to  treat  them  on  exactly  the  same  basis  in  every 
particular  that  we  treat  the  people  of  our  own  country,  but  with  a  great  deal  more 
consideration  than  we  do  our  agents  at  home.  This  is  important,  first,  because  of 
their  long  distance  from  us,  and  secondly,  because  of  their  highly  developed  sensi- 
bilities. 

Indeed,  gentlemen,  when  we  hold  a  convention  of  foreign  and  home  agents, 
we  find  that  the  representatives  from  the  Latin  American  countries,  on  this  score, 
are  far  superior  to  our  own  agents  in  this  country;  and  in  that  respect  especially 
are  they  worthy  of  emulation. 

We  found  it  necessary  to  have  a  broad,  liberal  policy.  By  that  I  do  not 
mean  a  lax  policy,  but  I  mean  a  policy  that  is  not  narrow.  To  illustrate  this  fact, 
we  pack  our  goods  just  as  our  agent  wants  them.  We  do  this  for  three  reasons. 
First,  he  knows  how — and  w-e  don't.  Secondly,  we  might  save  fifty  cents  on  a  box, 

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and  in  so  doing  knock  out  of  him  $10  worth  of  enthusiasm.  Thirdly,  we  believe  the 
customs  officials  would  rather  see  us  in  a  spirit  of  compliance  than  that  of  defiance 
to  their  rules  and  regulations. 

Fourthly,  we  print  catalogs  and  booklets  in  the  native  language  and  we  see 
that  our  translations  are  correct.  We  do  not  have  our  books  translated  by  some 
teacher  of  languages,  but  we  have  some  native  of  the  country  make  the  translation 
for  us. 

Fifthly,  we  have  a  definite  advertising  appropriation  for  Latin  America,  just 
the  same  as  we  do  in  this  country,  and  carry  on  a  consistent,  continuous  advertising 
campaign. 

Sixthly,  we  print  a  house  organ  for  the  Latin  American  section  in  the  language 
of  their  own  country.  We  show  here  the  records  of  the  men  and  their  pictures, 
and  give  to  this  publication  just  as  much  care  and  attention  as  we  do  to  the  one 
printed  for  the  United  States. 

We  at  times  hold  international  contests,  and  in  so  doing  we  make  Latin 
America  one  of  the  divisions  in  this  contest,  and  feature  the  contestants. 

One  of  the  best  things  we  do  is  to  give  every  agent  in  South  America,  and 
in  fact,  every  agent  in  the  world,  a  guaranteed  territory.  In  other  words,  if  some 
merchant  from  a  city  in  Brazil  should  be  visiting  this  country,  and  come  to  Dayton 
and  buy  a  cash  register,  we  would  immediately  credit  the  commission  on  this  sale 
to  the  Brazilian  in  whose  territory  this  machine  was  to  go,  even  though  the  agent 
had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  making  the  sale. 

If  there  ever  was  a  place  where  a. square  deal  brought  good  returns  it  is  in 
dealing  with  our  South  American  people.  After  you  once  establish  yourself  in 
the  confidence  of  these  people,  you  will  have  no  trouble  in  continuing  this  confidence  ; 
and,  without  it,  the  spirit  of  co-operation  is  impossible;  and  without  co-operation, 
business  cannot  be  successfully  carried  on  in  South  America. 

As  I  previously  said,  it  took  us  five  years  to  bring  about  these  things  and 
establish  the  confidence  and  co-operation  which  we  now  enjoy  with  our  South  Amer- 
ican representatives. 

For  the  past  five  years,  or  the  third  five-year  period  of  the  15  years  we  have 
been  represented  in  South  America,  the  volume  of  our  business  each  year  has  shown 
an  average  increase  of  40  per  cent,  over  the  preceding  year.  In  addition  to  this 
great  increase  in  volume,  we  must  not  fail  to  note  the  quality,  which  is  a  great  deal 
more  significant  to  me  than  the  quantity  of  business  done.  Taking  the  entire  world 
into  consideration,  the  percentage  of  high  grade  business  to  the  percentage  of  low 
grade  is  higher  in  Latin  America  than  in  any  other  country.  The  world's  record 
for  the  greatest  number  of  high  grade  sales  was  made  last  year  by  an  agent  in 
Brazil.  It  is  these  two  facts  which  encourage  us  in  the  belief  that  our  method  of 
handling  the  South  American  business  has  some  merit,  and  if  in  what  we  have  said 
in  these  few  moments  there  is  anything  which  will  be  of  assistance  to  any  members 
of  this  Conference,  I  shall  feel  that  some  little  contribution  has  been  made  to  the 
value  of  this  Congress. 

There  is  nothing  mysterious  in  doing  business  with  South  America.  The 
first  thing,  and  the  one  which  must  be  done  by  all  means,  is  to  send  a  competent 
representative  there  to  study  the  conditions,  and  I  do  not  believe  anyone  can  make  a 
visit  there  without  becoming  enthusiastic  over  the  possibilities,  not  of  a  phenomenal 
business,  but  of  a  good,  healthy,  steady  development.  They  will  also  be  convinced 
that  whatever  has  successfully  marketed  goods  in  our  own  country  will  markef 
them  there;  and  if  that  is  the  case,  all  that  is  necesary  is  to  back  this  good  judg- 
ment by  dollars — and  our  South  American  trade  will  increase. 

We,  as  manufacturers  here  at  this  Conference  should  not  wait  for  the  Panama 
Canal  to  open.  We  should  not  concern  ourselves  about  the  rates  to  be  established. 
I  think  our  few  days  here  ought  to  convince  us  that  there  are  more  capable  men 
than  ourselves  in  charge  of  these  matters.  Neither  do  I  think  we  should  spend  much 
of  our  time  worrying  over  the  ship  subsidy  proposition.  That  is  in  better  hands 
than  our  own.  Let  us  not  wait  until  American  banks  have  been  established  in 
South  America  before  we  start  in  South  America.  Don't  depend  upon  Mr.  Barrett 
and  his  bureau  to  get  business  for  you. 

It  seems  to  me  that  our  duty  is  to  get  on  the  first  ship,  whether  it  goes  to 
England  or  goes  direct  to  South  America,  but  get  on  some  ship  and  go  down  there 
and  study  the  conditions  and  get  started;  and  if  we  will  all  do ^ that,  and  use  our 
good  common-sense  business  policies  there,  when  the  canal  is  finished  and  the  ship 
subsidy  determined  upon  and  the  banks  are  established,  there  will  be  some  American 

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business  to  be  transacted  in  these  banks  and  there  will  be  American  goods  to  be 
hauled  in  these  ships. 

One  of  the  speakers  yesterday  said  that  Mr.  Nixon  couldn't  sell  dreadnoughts 
in  South  America  like  we  sell  cash  registers,  and  that  the  man  who  manufactures 
suspenders  could  not  sell  his  goods  in  South  America  the  same  as  Mr.  Nixon  sells 
his  battleships.  Certainly  not !  I  only  want  to  call  attention  to  this  one  fact : 

When  Mr.  Nixon  wants  to  sell  Uncle  Sam  a  battleship  he  doesn't  set  Uncle 
Sam  close  to  the  Washington  monument,  bring  his  model  ship  down  here  in  the 
river,  and  see  what  he  can  do  with  his  guns  to  this  fair  city;  nor  does  the  suspender 
man  sell  his  wares  by  blueprint  and  have  compiled  a  lot  of  tables  on  the  tensile 
strength  of  buttonholes. 

It  has  been  the  policy  of  our  company  to  market  our  goods  in  foreign  coun- 
tries in  exactly  the  same  way  we  market  them  here  in  this  country,  and  I  want  to 
repeat  that  whatever  will  m'arket  goods  successfully  at  home  will  market  them  in 
foreign  countries,  with  simply  the  necessary  modifications  to  meet  the  different 
customs  of  these  countries. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  That  is  excellent,  Mr.  Deeds.  I  would  like  to 
give  you  a  half  hour. 

I  will  now  call  on  a  man  who  has  just  recently  returned,  holding  a  high  diplo- 
matic post  in  Bolivia,  Mr.  J.  B.  Stutesman,  formerly  United  States  Minister  to  La 
Paz. 

MR.  STUTESMAN:  I  regard  this  as  one  of  the  most  significant  and  important 
conferences  which  has  ever  met  in  the  Capital  of  the  United  States.  I  do  not  even 
except  that  which  is  now  indulging  in  its  deliberations  at  the  other  end  of  the  Avenue. 
We  have  been  much  entertained  and  greatly  edified,  I  assure  you,  in  attending  the 
deliberations  of  this  convention.  I  have  not  participated,  except  by  my  presence, 
and  by  my  most  intelligent  appreciation  of  those  arguments  which  have  been  set 
forth  here;  but  I  have  not  yet  been  convinced  why  in  fourteen  of  these  twenty  re- 
publics the  balance  of  trade  is  against  the  United  States,  its  natural  depot.  You 
gentlemen  know  better  than  I  do  why  that  is.  I  have  my  own  theories.  I  have 
deduced  from  your  arguments  here  that  the  first  requisite  is  a  proper  kind  of  goods  ; 
goods  which  in  quality  and  price  shall  meet  that  competition  from  other  countries ; 
men  who  are  qualified  by  temperament,  by  acquirement — lingual  acquirement,  if  you 
please,  to  sell  those  goods;  men  in  your  home  manufactories  who  are  qualified — and 
it  is  a  great  dereliction  on  our  part  not  to  pack  those  goods  properly,  so  they  will 
stand  transportation;  and  lastly,  and  most  important,  vehicles  for  the  proper  trans- 
portation of  those  commodities.  Until  we  have  ships,  I  care  not  by  what  means  they 
may  be  subsidized,  until  we  have  those  carrying  vehicles,  we  can  not  hope  to  compete 
successfully  with  European  business  men.  That  those  ships  will  come  I  have  no  man- 
ner of  doubt ;  and  it  is  through  your  houses  and  your  Bradstreet  and  your  commercial 
agencies  that  this  sentiment  must  be  promulgated  and  fostered  and  cherished  until 
ultimately  it  will  be  crystallized  in  due  legislation  from  that  body  which  will  make  it 
possible  for  us  to  have  our  own  ships  upon  the  sea,  carrying  the  products  of  com- 
merce under  our  own  flag,  because  it  is  a  humiliating  experience  to  everyone  who 
travels  in  the  South  American  areas,  either  East  or  West  Coast.  My  experience  has 
led  me  from  Panama  to  Arequipa,  2061  miles,  and  I  did  not  see  the  flag  of  my  coun- 
try, save  when  we  entered  port  it  was  raised  in  my  honor. 

My  friends  of  South  America  and  Central  America,  you  must  disabuse  your- 
selves, and  we  are  here  to  disabuse  you  of  an  idea  which  is  more  or  less  current  in 
those  Republics,  as  you  all  know,  that  this  aggrandizement  that  we  seek  is  not 
political.  It  is  purely  commercial ;  we  do  not  want  your  territory,  but  we  want 
that  which  it  produces. 

And  I  leave  this  with  you.  I  greet  you  as  a  citizen  of  this  country,  no  longer 
in  official  life ;  I  greet  you  in  the  name  of  this  Pan  American  Union,  which  has  been 
such  a  wonderful  agent  in  promoting  the  relation,  commercial  and  political,  between 
our  republics ;  and  there  is  no  office  in  this  Union  more  capably  administered  in  our 
great  United  States  Government.  With  this  work,  I  believe  in  the  future  that  the 
balance  of  trade  of  the  fourteen  republics  \yill  not  be  against  the  United  States,  and 
that  the  blue  will  ultimately  be  the  controlling  color  in  such  future  devices. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  now  going  to  call  on  a  young  man  from 
Cuba,  who  has  made  a  very  careful  study  of  the  registration  of  trade  marks,  who 
is  an  acknowledged  authority  on  that  subject,  and  will  in  just  a  moment  tell  us  what 
is  the  situation  of  the  American  manufacturers  in  that  way,  Mr.  Aurelio  de  Armas. 

MR.  DE  ARMAS:    Maybe  I  am  going  to  call  your  attention  to  a  fact  that  most 

234 


of  you  who  have  already  had  business  relations  with  South  America  have  experienced 
in  a  very  sad  way — meeting  those  whom  we  call  the  "pirates,"  those  who  steal  your 
credit  and  register  in  their  own  name  your  well-known  trade  mark*  There  has 
been  much  complaint  for  years  against  that. 

I  am  very  sorry,  and  you  all  must  lament  that  we  do  not  have  the  pleasure 
of  listening  to  the  words  of  a  man  through  whose  efforts  the  union  of  the  American 
republics,  as  represented  in  the  Fourth  Pan  American  Congress  held  last  year  in 
Buenos  Ayres,  was  able  to  attain,  and  which  the  European  nations  have  thus  far 
failed  to  secure — I  mean  the  unification  of  the  patent  and  trade  mark  regulations  and 
laws. 

Here  in  the  United  States  you  are  brought  up  and  educated  in  the  ideas  and 
legal  principles  which  have  existed  here  for  years,  and  you  do  not  realize  the  con- 
ditions that  exist  down  there.  We  have  to  be  sorry  to  recognize  that  diplomacy  is 
quick  for  worry,  but  slow  sometimes  in  other  ways;  and  maybe  some  time  will  pass 
until  that  Pan  American  convention  goes  into  effect  and  is  properly  enforced.  In 
the  meanwhile,  I  recommend  to  you  not  to  lose  your  time  in  criticism,  but  to  know 
what  other  nations  are  doing,  which  is  to  take  the  best  you  can  from  the  con- 
ditions which  exist  and  which  for  the  present  moment  can  not  be  changed.  The 
trade  mark  laws  of  the  world  are  divided  into  two  great  groups — one,  which  is 
called  the  declaratory  registration  system ;  the  other,  the  attributed  registration 
system.  Under  the  first  group  of  laws  the  ownership,  same  as  in  the  United  States, 
is  acquired  through  the  use  or  occupation  of  the  mark.  In  the  other  group  of  laws 
a  case  of  ownership  is  acquired  through  .registration  only,  and  the  mark  is  given  to 
the  first  applicant.  In  the  first  group  you  have  a  few  South  American  countries, 
including  Santo  Domingo,  Honduras,  Salvador,  so  far  as  I  am  informed;  but 
in  the  other  you  have  Argentina,  Bolivia,  Costa  Rica,  Cuba,  Chile,  Guatemala,  Mex- 
ico, Panama,  Paraguay,  Peru  and  Uruguay.  In  these  last  named  countries,  you  must 
be  very  careful  to  have  your  trade-mark  registered  before  you  advertise,  or  before 
you  ship  your  products. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  If  anyone  wishes  to  ask  Mr.  de  Armas  any 
questions  you  may  approach  him.  He  has  prepared  a  pamphlet  on  the  trade  marks 
of  Cuba,  and  the  laws  there,  which  will  shortly  be  published,  and  which  will  be 
available  for  general  consultation.  Thank  you  very  much,  Mr.  de  Armas. 

In  that  connection,  I  wish  to  state  that  in  a  letter  regarding  his  illness  Mr. 
Moore  said : 

"I  was  especially  desirous  of  informing  the  gentlemen  of  the  Conference  in 
regard  to  patents  and  trademarks,  as  it  is  a  very  important  subject  and  should  be 
fully  gone  into  and  explained  for  their  information,  especially  in  regard  to  the  results 
of  the  recent  Pan  American  Congress,  which  adopted,  after  about  eight  weeks  of 
thorough  discussion,  three  conventions  which  I  had  the  honor  of  preparing  at  the 
request  of  the  President  and  the  Department  of  State. 

"I  wish  to  take  this  opportunity  of  informing  you,  and  possibly  you  may ^  see 
fit  to  announce  it  at  the  Conference  today,  that  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations 
and  the  United  States  Senate  have  approved  all  three  of  these  conventions  which 
I  labored  so  hard  at  Buenos  Aires  to  have  adopted.  I  feel  quite  confident  that  the 
other  twenty  nations  represented  will  shortly  ratify  these  conventions.  When  this 
is  done  it  will  result  in  the  greatest  good  to  the  people  of  the  twenty-one  nations 
represented  at  that  very  important  congress. 

"Deeply  regretting  my  inability  to  attend  and  address  the  Conference  today, 
and  trusting  it  will  not  seriously  disarrange  your  program,  I  have  the  honor  to 
remain,  with  high  regard,  very  cordially  yours,  EDWARD  B.  MOORE,  Commissioner  of 
Patents." 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  will  now  call  on  Mr.  Thompson  for  three 
minutes'  talk. 

MR.  THOMPSON:  I  am  limited  to  three  minutes  to  try  to  give  your  minds 
the  practical  and  commercial  result  of  having  traveled  through  every  country  you 
see  on  this  map,  mostly  by  mule.  I  can  only  reduce  it  to  a  few  words,  and  you  may 
take  it  in  the  form. of  advice  if  you  are  so  inclined. 

I  say  this :  Send  better  men  to  South  America ;  send  men  with  more  admira- 
tion and  more  understanding  and  with  more  observation  and  with  less  criticism. 
People  from  this  country  should  bear  in  mind  that  300  years  of  trading  with  Europe 
has  established  a  confidence  in  those  countries  which  is  very  hard  for  us  to  reach 
in  the  few  years  of  our  activities  in  South  America. 

We  are  often  inclined— I,  myself,  have  been  guilty  of  calling  them  in  my 

235 


uncultured  expression,  "Oh,  you  half -barbarians ;  you  are  not  civilized  yet."  And  I 
got  a  very  well-deserved  reproach  on  one  occasion  by  a  man  a  great  deal  my  senior, 
but  with  whom  I  lost  patience ;  and  after  frequent  remarks  of  that  kind  I  made  to 
him  about  some  careless  handling  of  explosives  for  mining  work,  he  said:  "Mr. 
Thompson,  don't  you  call  us  barbarians,  because  we  are  not.  We  disagree  with 
you  on  some  things,  but  do  not  necessarily  have  to  conform  to  your  ideas.  I  will 
give  you  an  instance  of  where  you  are  barbarians."  I  said:  "What  is  that?"  Well, 
I  want  you  to  see  the  depth  of  this  remark.  He  said :  "You  have  ninety  millions 
of  people  in  the  United  States  who  eat  because  it  is  twelve  o'clock."  That  conveys 
the  thought  of  those  people.  They  eat  when  hungry.  They  ask  for  goods  when 
they  want  them  and  know  how  they  want  them.  I  think  if  we  will  bear  that  in  mind 
that  our  future  commercial  relations  with  South  America  will  be  harmonious.  As  I 
heard  Senator  Root  say  this  morning :  "They  want  to  deal  with  us ;  they  prefer  to 
deal  with  Americans,  but  there  must  be  some  harmony  in  the  transaction."  If  we  are 
going  to  rub  them  the  wrong  way  and  establish  discord  at  every  move,  what  may 
we  expect? 

As  I  understand  trade,  it  means  the  exchange  of  something  you  do  not  want 
for  something  you  do,  and  I  want  to  see  the  blue,  as  has  been  pointed  out  before, 
enlarged  tremendously,  and  my  experiences  down  there  have  taught  me  to  look  with 
more  fear  upon  Germany  than  upon  England.  I  have  personally  met  two  repre- 
sentatives who  report  directly  to  the  Kaiser,  who  are  commissioners  and  patrol  the 
whole  west  coast — see  the  man,  see  the  buyer,  see  the  banker,  see  the  man  who 
extends  credit,  and  so  on;  hear  his  story,  get  him  interested  and  give  him  individ- 
ually the  financial  and  moral  assurance  of  their  Government. 

I  want  to  conclude  now  by  complimenting  our  consular  service.  I  remember 
the  time  twenty  years  ago  when  our  consuls  were  not  what  they  might  be,  and  I 
confess  now  that  I  traveled  for  years  through  South  America  under  British  pass- 
port. I  was  ashamed  of  the  American  passport.  I  say  today  we  are  having  men 
like  Mr.  Manning  and  many  other  consuls,  which  has  elevated  the  protection  which 
we  need  in  South  America,  and  that  gives  us  the  moral  support  which  is  bound  in 
time  to  increase  the  yearly  showing  which  our  worthy  Department  has  done  so  well 
in  attaining. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :    Three  minutes  to  Mr.  Louis  D.  Ricci. 

MR.  RICCI  :  In  going  to  South  America  it  is  necessary  to  know  that  the  Latin 
mind  is  very  sensitive  and  sensible.  They  do  not  like  to  be  told  things  the  way  we 
tell  them  here.  They  like  to  learn,  but  they  want  that  kindness  that  must  convey 
the  true  thing.  They  dislike  very  much  to  be  told  "You  don't  know  anything;  we 
know  it  all,"  and  that  is  what  we  do  generally  when  we  go  down. 

You  will  find  our  American  consulate  very  ready  and  very  willing  to  help  us. 
Something  has  been  said  about  the  language.  The  Spanish  language  is  not  very 
difficult  to  learn,  but  it  is  necessary  to  acquaint  yourself  with  it  if  you  want  to  do 
business.  If  you  deal  in  railroads,  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  speak  it  fluently, 
because  most  of  the  railroaders  in  South  America  are  English  or  Belgian  railroaders, 
and  most  of  them  know  English  thoroughly  and  can  be  understood;  but  if  you  go 
to  sell  talking  machines  you  will  have  to  speak  Spanish,  because  most  of  the  people 
that  are  there  want  to  be  spoken  to  in  the  language  they  understand.  Consequently, 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  be  able  to  give  a  rule  how  to  conduct  the  business.  Each 
business  is  practically  the  same  as  they  have  in  this  country.  In  Argentine,  for 
instance,  you  will  find  that  our  cash  register  is  very  well  known,  as  they  told  you 
before,  because  they  went  at  it  in  the  right  way.  In  machinery  we  are  under  the 
English  and  German,  as  a  rule,  because  we  sell  a  piece  of  our  machinery  with 
almost  no  finish.  The  English  do  not.  They  are  nearly  all  hand-made,  and  in 
reapers  they  are  more  pleased  with  our  machine  than  the  English  machine.  The 
finish  of  our  machines  is  not  quite  as  good,  but  it  never  affects  the  sale  of  them. 

My  experience  has  been  in  Venezuela,  and,  consequently,  what  I  have  told 
you  is  more  or  less  what  I  have  learned  there. 

Paving— Today  Buenos  Aires  has  5000  square  feet  made  under  our  super- 
vision, and  in  Buenos  Aires  they  have  streets  much  better  than  our  own  here  in 
the  American  city. 

Thank  you  very  much. 

MR.  BUNKER,  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions:  The  Committee  on  Resolu- 
tions has  this  to  say :  Owing  to  the  importance  and  great  scope  of  the  Conference 
and  its  sweeping  success,  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  finds  it  impossible  to  prepare 

236 


in  a  few  moments  a  series  of  adequate  resolutions.  The  committee  therefore  asks 
for  the  time  necessary  to  properly  mirror  the  spirit  of  the  occasion. 

It  was  moved,  seconded  and  carried  that  the  necessary  time  asked  for  by  this 
committee  be  granted. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Inasmuch  as  this  does  not  involve  any  matter 
of  governmental  policy,  I,  with  some  hesitation,  admit  that  these  resolutions  are  in 
order,  even  though  they  are  to  refer  to  the  Director  General  and  his  staff,  who  do 
not  feel  they  are  really  entitled  to  them,  but  only  too  glacl  to  make  you  feel  at  home. 

I  will  now  call  on  Mr.  William  M.  Benney,  of  the  National  Association  of 
Manufacturers. 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  WM.  M.  BENNEY,  OF  THE  NATIONAL 
ASSOCIATION  OF  MANUFACTURERS 

Mr.  BENNEY  said: 

Gentlemen:  Soon  after  the  invitations  to  this  Conference  were  issued  the 
association  which  I  have  the  honor  to  represent  began  to  receive  inquiries  by  letter 
and  'phone  of  this  tenor:  What  about  this  Conference?  Will  it  pay  me  to  go? 
What  good  vyill  it  do  me?  Will  there  be  many  there? 

To  which  I  replied:  "Go  by  all  means.  The  objects  of  the  Pan  American 
Union  deserve  your  support,  and  the  energy  and  devotion  of  its  Director  General 
should  have  your  encouragement.  By  going  to  the  Conference  you  will  help  make 
it  a  success.  If  you  know  little  or  nothing  about  Latin  American  business  con- 
ditions, you  will  meet  men  there  who  do  know  about  them  and  be  willing  to  tell  you 
about  them.  If  you  are  already  familiar  with  those  Southern  lands  and  have  an 
established  trade  therein,  your  experience  will  be  helpful  to  others.  Without  giving 
away  your  own  trade  secrets  you  can  stimulate  the  enterprise  of  manufacturers  of 
other  lines  and  help  them  avoid  mistakes,  for  every  mistake  made  in  a  strange  land 
by  one  American  casts  discredit  on  the  American  name,  while  every  successful 
American  trade  achievement  in  that  land,  every  satisfied  customer,  enhances  the 
value  of  things  American.  The  mistakes,  or  worse,  of  a  neigrfbor  at  home  may  be 
ignored ;  made  by  that  neighbor  in  a  foreign  country  may  cost  you  time  and  money, 
as  well  as  he,  in  overcoming  the  prejudice  thereby  established.  If  you  don't  care  to 
make  a  speech  on  your  own  foreign  experience,  ask  questions  and  draw  out  the 
experience  of  others." 

The  attendance  at  this  Conference,  I  think,  must  be  most  gratifying  to 
Director  General  Barrett  and  his  staff.  The  keen  interest  in  the  proceedings  shown 
for  so  many  days  by  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  delegates  is  evidence  that  the  Con- 
ference is  a  success. 

I  believe  a  large  majority  of  those  present  would  like  to  see  a  Conference  of 
this  character  take  place  here  periodically,  perhaps  annually. 

There  are  many  phases  of  the  subject  of  international  commerce  on  which  1 
should  like  to  talk,  but  time  will  not  permit,  and  I  will  only  ask  your  attention  for 
a  few  minutes  to  a  brief  description  of  what  a  large  proportion  of  leading  manu- 
facturers of  the  country  have  by  united  action  done  for  themselves  in  promoting  the 
foreign  commerce  of  this  country. 

Sixteen  years  ago  the  Pan  American  Union  had  not  found  itself — had  not 
developed  into  that  efficient  institution  which  it  has  become  under  the  management 
of  its  present  Director  General.  The  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  with  its 
progressive  Bureau  of  Manufactures,  did  not  exist.  There  were  good  men  in  the 
consular  service,  but  as  a  body  they  were  not  keyed  up  to  their  work  as  they  are 
now,  nor  were  their  reports  so  readily  available.  The  manufacturers  of  that  day 
found  the  home  market  depressed,  business  bad;  they  believed  there  were  possibili- 
ties of  relief  in  a  foreign  outlet,  but  the  great  majority  were  at  a  loss  how  to  obtain 
a  fair  idea  of  the  possibilities  for  their  particular  lines.  The  time  seemed  ripe  for 
an  organization  to  provide  ways  and  means.  As  a  result  a  convention  of  several 
hundred  manufacturers  was  held  at  Cincinnati  in  January,  1895,  and  the  National 
Association  of  Manufacturers  of  the  United  States  of  America  was  formed,  em- 
bracing manufacturers  in  all  lines  and  from  all  sections  of  the  country — a  truly 
national  organization. 

Its  first  two  presidents  were  well-known  Philadelphia  manufacturers,  and  its 
offices  were  located  in  Philadelphia  for  nearly  eight  years.  The  association  at  once 

237 


took  active  measures  for  study  and  improvement  of  conditions  affecting  industry  in 
general  throughout  the  country  and  at  the  same  time  vigorously  prosecuted  work 
in  the  foreign  field.  Commissions  and  committees  of  members  were  sent  abroad 
to  Japan,  to  Mexico,  to  Venezuela,  to  the  east  coast  of  South  America  as  far  south 
as  Argentina.  The  reports  of  these  observers  were  published  in  numerous  pamphlets 
and  widely  distributed.  Correspondence  was  maintained  with  commercial  bodies 
and  firms  in  many  countries,  with  the  result  that  the  association  soon  became  as 
well  or  better  known  abroad  than  at  home. 

This  correspondence  was  written  in  different  languages,  requiring  replies  in 
the  same  languages.  A  translation  bureau  was  started  for  this  purpose  and  also  to 
aftord  the  manufacturer  a  channel  through  which  he  could  be  assured  of  having  his 
foreign  correspondence  treated  with  the  same  promptness  and  privacy  as  if  done  in 
his  own  office. 

That  bureau  now  handles  tens  of  thousands  of  documents  yearly,  translated 
into  or  from  over  thirty  languages. 

The  result  of  all  this  was  many  inquiries  for  American  goods;  also  a  desire 
on  the  part  of  the  manufacturer  to  know  something  of  the  character  and  responsi- 
bility of  the  respective  customers,  for  sven  in  those  days  all  manufacturers  did  not 
exact  cash  in  advance.  As  a  result,  a  credits  bureau  was  gradually  built  up,  two 
or  more  correspondents  of  which  will  be  found  in  nearly  every  city  of  commercial 
importance  in  every  country  of  the  globe,  with  reports  on  file  on  thousands  of 
foreign  firms  and  facilities  for  securing  up-to-date  information  by  cable  or  mail. 

But  not  all  members  made  use  of  their  privileges  in  carefully  investigating 
customers'  responsibility.  Some  also  made  mistakes  in  shipments.  Results :  trouble 
or  disputes  with  customers,  and  the  association  called  on  for  assistance.  Frequently 
a  friendly  letter  from  the  association  has  adjusted  the  matter  without  friction,  and 
the  customer  has  been  retained  for  the  manufacturer.  In  other  cases  vigorous 
measures  had  to  be  taken  against  a  debtor,  resulting  in  the  building  up  of  a  collec- 
tion bureau,  which  is  successful  in  adjusting  claims  or  effecting  collections  in  a 
large  proportion  of  cases  in  many  countries  through  reliable  attorneys  in  those 
countries. 

But  it  would  take  altogether  too  much  time  on  an  occasion  like  this  to  tell 
you  in  detail  of  the  many  branches  of  work  of  the  foreign  department  of  the  National 
Association  of  Manufacturers.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  there  are  also  a  bureau  of 
foreign  buyers  for  compiling  rated  or  selected  lists  of  foreign  business  houses,  a 
patents  and  trade-mark  bureau  for  looking  after  these  matters  in  all  countries,  a 
freight  bureau  for  taking  care  of  a  manufacturer's  shipments  from  factory  to  cus- 
tomer, and  a  general  information  bureau  for  reporting  on  special  conditions  in  any 
foreign  market  through  the  1200  or  more  correspondents  of  the  foreign  department, 
and  also  a  division  for  affording  reliable  information  as  to  the  customs  tariffs  of 
all  countries. 

Not  least,  and  this  I  would  like  to  emphasize,  is  what  may  be  called  an  em- 
ployment bureau,  where  record  is  kept  of  men  who  have  the  qualifications  for  and 
experience  in  representing  manufacturers  in  the  export  field.  Not  infrequently  a 
manufacturer  has  found  through  this  bureau  the  right  man  at  the  right  time.  It  is 
free  to  both  applicant  and  employer. 

With  the  removal  of  the  general  office  of  the  association  in  1902  from  the 
great  manufacturing  city  of  Philadelphia  to  the  great  manufacturing  and  commer- 
cial city  of  New  York,  the  center  of  our  export  and  import  trade,  the  offices  of  the 
association  have  become  a  mecca  for  the  visiting  business  man  from  all  lands,  and 
I  am  glad  to  say  with  a  constantly  increasing  number  from  Latin  America. 

But  the  association  in  its  foreign  trade  work  is  by  no  means  a  one-sided 
organization.  If  it  efficiently  aids  the  American  manufacturer  in  securing  his  just 
dues  abroad,  it  is  also  ready  and  does  assist  the  foreign  business  man  who  has  a 
legitimate  complaint  against  an  American  concern. 

With  a  membership  of  over  three  thousand  located  in  every  manufacturing 
State  of  the  Union,  with  its  officers  and  committee  working  hard  on  many  problems 
affecting  manufacturers  generally,  it  constantly  employs  about  half  of  its  office  staff 
of  60  people  on  matters  pertaining  to  foreign  trade. 

With  an  organization  offering  practical  services  in  all  branches  of  export 
trade,  the  association  officially  and  its  members  individually  stand  ever  ready  to 
co-operate  with  our  Government  departments  now  so  active  in  promoting  trade 
interests,  and  with  the  Pan  American  Union  in  its  energetic  and  comprehensive  work 

238 


for  the  betterment  of  commercial  and  social  relations   with  the  other  nations  of 
these  American  continents. 

While  the  manufacturer  cannot  hope  to  secure  lasting  business  abroad  with- 
out the  same  hard  work  and  application  and  judgment  that  achieve  success  at  home, 
he  does  well  to  acquaint  himself  with  all  the  facilities  afforded  him  through  official 
sources  and  to  take  advantage  of  the  privileges  which  the  liberality  of  our  Govern- 
ment and  the  Governments  of  our  sister  republics,  aided  by  the  munificence  of  a 
great  former  fellow  manufacturer,  have  provided  for  him  in  this  great  temple  of 
peace  and  enlightenment. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  will  now  call  on  Mr.  D.  M.  Segovia,  of  Para- 
guay, to  say  just  a  word. 

MR.  SEGOVIA:  I  have  nothing  especially  to  tell  you,  because  I  did  not  kno\» 
in  time  that  this  Conference  was  going  on,  and  only  as  a  visitor  I  just  happened  to 
come  here  today.  I  wish  to  tell  the  persons  interested  in  railroad  building  and 
persons  selling  railroad  materials  that  in  Paraguay  just  at  the  present  time  there 
are  under  construction  four  different  lines,  and  that  they  may  do  well  in  investigat- 
ing the  field,  and  they  might  sell  some  materials;  and,  also,  manufacturers  of  agri- 
cultural implements,  which  are  free  of  duties,  that  Paraguay  is  an  agricultural  coun- 
try, and  we  are  starting  to  buy  American  machinery. 

We  have  a  national  bank,  the  National  Agricultural  Bank,  which  is  at  the 
present  time  buying  large  quantities,  and  the  American  manufacturers  of  agricultural 
implements  may  investigate  the  matter  further.  I  would  be  glad  to  answer  some 
questions  relating  to  Paraguay.  As  I  have  said,  I  have  nothing  special  to  tell  you 
at  the  present  time.  I  am  not  prepared. 

MR.  FORBES  LINDSAY:  I  had  thought  that  every  phase  of  this  subject  had 
been  covered  until  Dr.  Hale  reminded  me  of  a  very  important  point  that  from  my 
own  experience  is  worth  mentioning,  and  that  was  that  traveling  agents  in  Latin 
America,  particularly  South  America,  where  the  territories  are  large,  are  apt  to 
overlook  the  smaller  towns  and  thereby  miss  a  good  deal  of  good  business.  The 
towns  of  anywhere  from  10,000  and  lower  frequently  will  yield  good  business. 

There  is  another  point  in  connection  with  that.  I  might  go  further,  and  say 
that  it  is  well  worth  your  while  to  go  into  the  interior  districts  and  learn  the  needs 
of  the  people.  I  remember  a  point  that  came  to  my  personal  observation  quite 
recently.  I  was  in  the  interior  of  Panama  last  year — I  have  been  there  several  times 
—and  I  noticed  the  demand  amongst  the  people  for  canned  goods  in  small  packages. 
They  are  poor,  you  know — they  are  in  the  aggregate  of  their  purchases,  and  this 
applies  to  the  country  people  of  almost  all  the  districts.  Their  purchases  are  small, 
and  the  can  they  open  today  has  to  be  consumed  today.  It  occurred  to  me — I  have 
not  mentioned  it  in  any  direction — but  it  might  apply  to  a  number  of  manufactures — 
an  i8-cent  can  of  salmon,  if  it  were  cut  up  into  two  lo-cent  cans,  would  sell  quite 
readily  where  it  does  not  sell  at  all  now.  There  are  lots  of  people  who  cannot  afford 
to  buy  canned  salmon  at  that  price,  because  they  cannot  consume  it  all  at  a  sitting. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  have  kept  our  own  experts  in  the  background 
all  the  time  of  the  meeting  here  to  give  room  for  others  on  the  outside  to  answer 
questions.  I  will  now  call  on  Mr.  Wells  to  say  a  word.  Mr.  Wells  has  for  a  long 
time  been  associated  with  this  office,  and  has  a  very  comprehensive  knowledge  of 
many  things. 

MR.  WELLS  :  The  only  thing  I  have  to  say,  gentlemen,  this  evening  that  will 
be  of  any  value  to  you  are  some  few  observations  on  the  Latin  American  tariffs.  I 
speak  of  the  Latin  American  tariffs,  and  I  am  going  to  say  generally  what  cannot 
be  accepted  too  accurately,  for  there  is  no  .generalization  applicable  to  the  twenty 
different  tariffs.  What  is  true  in  one  case  is  not  ordinarily  true  in  another  case. 
But  there  are  two  general  underlying  principles  which  it  is  well  to  keep  before  your 
mind  in  the  business  of  Latin  America. 

The  first  thing  with  respect  to  the  Latin  American  tariff  is  that  it  is  a  very 
different  thing  from  the  tariff  of  the  United  States,  and  founded  upon  very  different 
principles  and  very  different  policies.  We  are  accustomed  to  look  at  these  things 
from  the  North  American  standpoint,  which  is  entirely  a  wrong  standpoint.  Latin 
American  tariffs  are  all  revenue  tariffs.  Now,  I  do  not  mean  to  have  you  accept 
that  literally,  because  here  and  there  there  are  protective  features;  but  I  am  speak- 
ing generally  when  I  say  they  are  all  revenue  tariffs,  and  all  imposed  for  the  purpose 
of  collecting  the  most  revenue.  The  purpose  of  those  countries  evidently — and  I 
do  not  speak  as  knowing  their  purposes,  because  those  are  governmental  things— 

239 


<>  URUGUAY0 


85,550,534:. 


TOTAL  IMPORTS  Vjf1909 
$38.643,035 

TISUKL3  BY  COUHTRIL5 
NOT  AVAILABLE. 


UNITED  KINGDOM 
4  12,196,034 


UKITEP  STATES 
*  3,456,035 


TRANCE 
*  3, 767,014 


•:.  COUHTRILS:  Vr: 


TAKAMWllCAKUXIOK 

Wash.D.C- 


but  the  purpose  is  to  raise  the  most  revenue,  and  the  tariff  adjusted  to  that  point  at 
which  it  will  raise  the  most  revenue. 

The  tariffs  are  nearly  all  of  them  theoretically  upon  an  ad  valorem  basis,  which 
means,  of  course,  goods  pay  so  much  of  the  percentage  of  their  value  as 
brought  in.  As  a  practical  proposition  that  is  not  true,  since  it  is  not  easy 
to  apply  an  ad  valorem  tariff.  Our  tariff  is  generally  an  ad  valorem  tariff,  but  we 
maintain  under  that  tariff  a  large  corps  of  experts  in  Europe  and  the  United  States, 
whose  duty  it  is  to  find  out  the  value  of  goods  so  that  the  custom-house  may  not  be 
imposed  upon.  These  custom  experts  in  Europe  and  the  United  States  are  not 
maintained  by  the  Latin  American  republics.  The  consequence  is  that  a  pure  ad 
valorem  tariff  could  not  be  administered  in  Latin  American  countries  except  to 
divert  a  large  portion  of  their  revenues.  For  that  reason  all  those  tariffs  are  merged 
into  a  specific  tariff  by  means  of  a  second  tariff,  sometimes  in  Spanish  called  avaluo, 
which  has  been  translated  as  the  valuation  of  the  tariff.  Really,  a  permanent  schedule 
is  a  better  translation  than  any  other.  It  means  this,  that  the  custom-house  first 
determines  what  all  goods  are  valued  at — what  they  are  worth.  (Indicating  a 
chair:)  This  chair  is  worth  a  certain  thing — $2.  I  am  using  a  chair,  but  I  do  not 
mean  to  apply  it  to  chairs  particularly.  They  are  valued  at  $2,  irrespective  of  what 
they  are  really  wrorth.  When  you  send  your  chairs  in  there,  remember  you  are 
paying  $2  on  them.  The  thing  that  you  mark  upon  your  invoices  and  the  manifest 
shows  is  the  thing  that  the  custom  house  puts  its  duty  on. 

The  effect  of  that  has  a  double  side  to  it.  One  is  that,  as  a  general  rule,  the 
higher-class  goods  come  in  at  a  higher  tariff  than  the  lower-class  goods  in  the 
same  class;  for  that  very  reason  that  the  chair  valued  at  $2  or  $4  comes  in  there 
at  the  same  rate  as  the  $i  chair.  They  do  not  take  the  chair  as  meaning  chair;  it 
only  means  an  article. 

Another  view  is  that  the  thing  itself,  the  identification  of  the  thing  itself,  is 
a  most  important  matter. 

In  the  customs  house  of  the  United  States,  if  you  bring  in  a  sable  coat  worth 
$2000,  these  customs  house  officials  know  the  value  of  that  as  well  and  better  than 
you  do,  and  they  are  going  to  assess  it  on  that  basis,  and  there  cannot  be  any  mis- 
take. You  cannot  call  it  a  rabbit-skin  coat  or  anything  else.  It  is  very  different 
in  respect  of  the  Latin  American  tariffs.  The  thing  that  comes  in  is  the  thing  itself, 
and  not  as  you  use  it.  For  instance,  I  can  show  you  a  common  article  of  furniture 
in  use  in  Latin  America  which  is  never  imported,  which  the  statistics  of  the  coun- 
try show  absolutely  there  are  no  importations  of,  and  yet  they  are  found  there  and 
they  are  of  foreign  make.  The  reason  for  that  is  that  the  things  come  in  as  the 
material  of  which  they  are  made — some  other  shape.  I  was  asked  to  state  how 
many  billiard  tables  there  are  in  Argentine.  The  Argentine  Government  reports  none 
imported,  and  yet  billiard  tables  are  found  to  be  as  common  there,  and  more  common, 
perhaps,  than  here,  as  Mr.  Chandler  knows ;  but  there  are  no  billiard  tables  made  in 
Argentina. 

The  European  manufacturer  and  the  English  know  where  the  billiard  table 
is  made,  and  it  is  up  to  the  American  manufacturer  to  find  out. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  Just  a  word,  Mr.  Curt. 

MR.  CURT:  This  week  has  been  one  in  which  I  can  say  that  I  have  had  the 
largest  honors  conferred  upon  me.  I  have  had  the  honor,  first,  to  have  been  ap- 
pointed a  delegate  for  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Chicago,  one  of  the  largest  in 
this  country.  Besides  that,  after  coming  here  to  Washington,  I  have  had  conference 
with  various  Senators  and  Congressmen  and  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and 
when  I  spoke  to  those  gentlemen  I  mentioned  something  in  regard  to  the  Pan  Amer- 
ican Conference,  and  they  all  unanimously  said  it  was  one  of  the  greatest  events  in 
the  history  of  the  country  as  far  as  the  commercial  propaganda  is  concerned. 

Gentlemen,  after  so  many  able  speakers  have  occupied  this  place  and  given 
us  so  many  suggestions  and  good  advice,  what  can  I  say?  I  know  very  little  about 
the  export  business;  I  know  a  little  about  Latin  America.  I  want  to  say  to  you 
it  is  not  a  matter  of  personal  interest,  but  the  other  day  someone  here  in  the 
audience  mentioned  a  little  country  away  back  in  the  West  Indies,  perhaps^  known 
to  the  majority  of  you.  No  one  described  that  little  country  and  its  activities, 
am  proud  to  be  a  Porto  Rican!  There  are  only  one  million  inhabitants  in  that 
country;  its  area  a  little  over  3000  square  miles,  which  is  pretty  good.  Gentlemen, 
do  not  forget  that  little  place  over  there.  We  want  your  business,  and  we  want  you 
to  feel  at  home  there  as  well  as  here.  We  like  you,  and  we  want  you  to  do  business 
with  us. 

241 


Now,  let  me  say  a  word  about  our  hopes.  Today  as  I  was  speaking  to  the 
representative  of  our  country  the  Senate  passed  a  bill  in  regard  to  Porto  Rico.  I 
do  not  want  to  discuss  that  point,  but  let  me  say  once  again,  in  regard  to  the  trade 
of  the  Latin  American  countries,  I  firmly  believe  that  ten  years  from  today,  if  a 
conference  of  this  kind  is  held  in  this  country,  you  will  see  that  the  United  States 
has  increased  about  four  times  the  value  of  business  owing  to  the  present  Confer- 
ence that  is  being  held. 

I  have  never  been  in  a  place  where  I  have  been  so  instructed  as  I  have  this 
week  here. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Perhaps  no  one  has  worked  harder  for  the  suc- 
cess of  this  Conference  than  the  chief  clerk  and  editor  of  the  Bulletin.  He  has  been 
on  guard  night  and  day.  I  will  ask  Mr.  Adams  to  address  you. 

MR.  ADAMS  :  I  will  give  my  two  minutes  to  someone  else.  But  I  want  to 
direct  the  Association  of  Manufacturers  to  this  idea:  I  do  believe  it  is  time  now  that 
we  launch  a  trade  excursion  to  Latin  America.  I  have  not  had  an  opportunity  of 
speaking  to  Mr.  Barrett  about  this,  but  I  am  quite  sure  that  he  will  concur  in  the 
matter.  There  is  a  great  field  in  Latin  America  for  trade  if  it  is  approached  prop- 
erly. What  a  fine  chance  we  have  for  chartering  a  vessel,  taking  our  passengers 
down  there  and  using  all  the  cargo  and  space  for  exhibits;  have  the  vessel  electric 
lighted  and  then  go  in  the  port  with  band  playing,  invite  all  the  people  to  come 
down  and  see  these  exhibits,  give  away  the  samples,  and  then  go  to  the  next  port, 
at  the  same  time  gaining  some  information  about  the  country. 

You  could  make  the  first  trip  down  from  the  Caribbean,  and  the  next  year 
following  go  down  as  far  as  the  Straits  of  Magellan.  Every  now  and  then  a  vessel 
is  built  on  the  Atlantic  coast  for  delivery  to  San  Francisco  or  for  the  Alaska  trade, 
and  that  vessel  does  not  have  to  come  back.  With  such  a  vessel  you  would  have 
very  small  expense,  could  make  all  the  ports  you  want,  and  in  that  way  have  them 
acquainted  with  our  samples  and  our  trade. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  will  now  call  on  Mr.  John  Vavasour  Noel,  the 
Editor  of  Peru  Today. 

MR.  NOEL:  I  regret  very  much  that  temporary  infirmities  have  prevented  my 
taking  a  more  active  part  in  the  Conference.  At  the  same  time  I  feel  I  have  tried 
to  do  my  share  in  this  work ;  it  has  my  enthusiastic  support  and  comment. 

There  is  one  thing  upon  which  I  would  like  to  have  spoken  if  time  had  per- 
mitted, and  perhaps,  as  Mr.  Barrett  has  said  that  the  last  part  of  this  afternoon  was 
to  be  a  "commercial  praise  meeting,"  I  might  now  call  your  attention  to  the  fact, 
not  in  any  dramatic  way,  but  I  am  the  only  and  first  American  publisher  in  South 
America,  and  I  wanted  to  speak  to  you  on  the  subject  of  newspapers  and  advertising, 
and  can  only  cull  from  the  observations  and  ideas  in  my  head  one  little  story  to 
illustrate  the  difficulties  of  establishing  a  news  service  in  Latin  America.  It  is 
necessary  to  have  there  correspondents  who  have  the  American  mind  for  news  and 
correspondents  in  this  country  who  have  the  Latin  American  idea. 

I  will  briefly  relate  the  experience  of  a  well-known  press  association  in 
Mexico  some  years  ago  who  established  agents  and  wrote  to  various  places,  and 
thought  they  were  going  to  have  a  very  fine  news  service  to  cover  Mexico.  An 
earthquake  occurred  in  the  coast  region,  and  they  waited  for  the  local  correspondent, 
a  Mexican  gentleman,  to  send  them  some  word  about  this  catastrophe  which  had 
destroyed  the  entire  city  of  Chipancingo.  They  waited  in  vain,  and  finally  wrote 
him:  "Telegraph  full  particulars  quick,"  and  they  received  a  message,  the  reading 
alone  of  which  gave  a  faint  impression  of  the  sorrow  of  the  writer,  who  said :  "Our 
fair  city  in  ruins.  I  refrain  from  harrowing  details."  Such  was  the  experience,  and 
illustrates  the  difficulty  in  securing  the  proper  sort  of  correspondents  to  furnish  the 
news  wanted. 

I  asked  a  young  man,  Mr.  de  Armas,  a  question  about  banks,  because  I  wanted 
to  bring  out  the  point  of  the  great  success  which  has  been  obtained  by  one  bank  in 
Latin  America— the  National  Bank  of  Cuba.  I  would  like  to  call  his  attention  to  a 
study  of  that  institution,  and  there  is  a  field  in  every  Latin  American  city  for  such 
a  bank,  which  has  done  a  wonderful  work.  I  will  tell  you  that  there  is  not  a  country 
in  Latin  America  where  more  than  half  of  the  capital  can  be  subscribed  if  the 
initiative  is  taken  from  this  country. 

I  shall  avail  myself  of  the  generosity  of  Mr.  Barrett  to  make  one  more  remark, 
and  that  is  that  while  a  great  deal  has  been  said  in  criticism  of  the  American  manu- 
facturers in  not  securing  the  amount  of  trade,  at  least  we  can  point  to  American 

242 


energy  and  enterprise  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  South  American  Continent  in  rail- 
way enterprises. 

Mr.  Curtis  made  a  reference  to  Mr.  Wheelright.  Mr.  Wheelright  had  a  great 
deal  to  do  with  the  establishment  of  the  Pacific  Steam  Navigation  Co.,  and  also  I 
wish  to  mention  the  names  of  Mr.  Meiggs,  who  built  the  railways  in  Chile  and  in 
Peru;  and  Colonel  Church,  who  recently  died,  identified  Madeira-Mamore  Railway. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  Everyone  must  keep  within  the  limit,  with  the 
exception  of  the  closing  speaker,  Mr.  Graves;  that  is  final.  This  is  the  last  day  and 
the  last  hour  of  our  session,  and  this  rule  must  be  followed. 

I  will  now  call  on  Dr.  Hale,  also  of  our  staff,  who  has  worked  so  hard,  to  say 
just  a  word. 

DR.  HALE:  One  little  point  I  have  kept  up  my  sleeve;  nobody  stole  it  from 
me,  and  that  is  about  packing.  Do  not  laugh !  You  all  know  how  to  pack.  Awhile 
ago  you  had  before  you  the  German  patent  clamp,  and  then  stopped  at  the  box  of 
hay.  Learn  where  the  box  is  going  to,  because  every  port  in  Latin  America  differs. 
Some  land  on  the  wharf,  some  may  be  lightered  from  ship  in  a  launch,  and  that 
sort  of  thing.  After  it  reaches  the  shore,  maybe  it  will  go  to  the  railway,  from  the 
railway  to  the  cart  road,  and  after  that  it  may  go  on  mule.  And  if  you  can  pack 
for  that  mule  you  will  do  better  than  you  are  doing  now. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  will  now  call  on  Captain  Fortescue,  of  our 
staff. 

CAPTAIN  FORTESCUE  :  I  had  the  pleasure  of  spending  my  leave  last  September 
in  Mexico,  and  I  would  like  to  call  the  attention  of  the  delegates  to  just  where  Mex- 
ico is.  We  know  it  is  pretty  close  to  the  United  States.  There  are  about  six  lines  of 
railway  that  go  from  the  United  States  into  Mexico.  You  can  go  by  Pullman  train 
from  New  York  city  to  Mexico  City.  You  can  go  by  some  of  the  best  steamers  on 
the  water  from  New  York  city  to  Vera  Cruz  and  to  Mexico  City.  The  return  trip 
costs  $125,  and  you  can  do  it  in  about  three  weeks  from  New  York. 

Every  United  States  citizen  should  visit  Mexico.  The  history  of  the  country 
is  magnificent.  Think  of  Cortez  and  his  men  when  they  went  up  to  Tenochtitlan 
in  his  fights  on  the  road  from  Vera  Cruz  to  Mexico  City ;  see  every  pass  the  Aztecs 
held  and  the  snow-capped  volcanoes  watching  over  all.  See  Chitzen  Itza,  the  ancient 
city  of  the  Aztecs.  There  is  nothing  like  it  outside  of  Egypt. 

Let  us  take  up  trade.  In  1875,  $26,000,000  worth  of  exports  came  from  Mexico ; 
last  year  $130,000,000  worth.  Of  this  the  United  States  gets  about  $98,000,000,  or  76 
per  cent.  Although  a  very  good  share  of  it,  I  do  not  see  why,  with  the  geographical 
situation  of  Mexico,  the  United  States  should  not  have  99  per  cent,  of  the  commerce 
of  Mexico.  I  will  not  speak  longer,  as  Dr.  Carreno  has  already  so  ably  covered  the 
subject. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  want  to  say  in  regard  to  Mexico :  We  were 
addressed  on  the  first  day  by  Hon.  Joaquin  D.  Casasus,  former  Ambassador  of 
Mexico  and  now  Special  Ambassador,  and  the  following  day  Dr.  Carreno,  of  Mexico, 
delivered  a  very  comprehensive  address.  We  have  not  taken  up  Mexico,  because 
it  is  so  close,  and  so  much  information  is  available,  and  such  a  large  percentage  of 
our  manufacturers  have  been  down  there  and  are  very  familiar  with  it,  and  we  have 
in  this  institution  all  the  information  you  may  desire  in  regard  to  Mexico,  and  have 
many  men  thoroughly  familiar  with  it  and  can  answer  any  questions  you  may 
desire. 

Just  a  word  from  Mr.  Dickinson,  who  has  traveled  extensively  in  Latin  Amer- 
ica. He  has  been  here  all  through  the  Conference,  and  has  been  of  use  to  us. 

MR.  WM.  M.  DICKINSON,  Otis  Elevator  Co.:  Gentlemen,  I  think  the  most 
significant  thing  I  can  say  to  any  of  you  who  wonder  whether  or  not  there  is  trade 
for  you  down  south  is  simply  to  describe  the  business  by  which  I  get  my  bread  and 
butter.  I  am  in  the  passenger  and  freight  elevator  business,  and  I  want  to  amplify 
the  remarks  of  the  representative  of  Lafean  &  Co.  You  have  gone  through  a  great 
many  cities  of  Latin  America,  and  Mr.  Chandler  spoke  about  there  being  a  few 
elevators  there.  Last  July  there  were  1240  in  the  City  of  Rio  Janeiro  alone. 

First,  how  the  business  works  out.  I  would  like  to  call  your  attention  to  two 
points  from  which  orders  come. 

You  have  heard  about  the  Madeira-Mamore  Railway,  away  up  in  the  central 
part  of  Brazil.  Within  two  weeks  one  of  our  directors  has  come  back  from  the 
town  of  Manaos.  I  wish  you  could  see  away  up  in  the  center  of  Brazil,  a  thousand 
miles  up  the  Amazon  River,  where  he  just  put  in  one  passenger  and  one  freight 
elevator  of  a  modern  type,  steel  rails,  etc.,  such  as  we  would  put  in  New  York  city. 

243 


The  other  night  most  of  you  were  here  and  heard  that  splendid  address  by  Mrs. 
Adams.  One  of  the  first  pictures  showed  a  little  glacier.  Right  up  near  that  glacier, 
at  Punta  Arenas,  within  the  last  month  we  received  orders  for  two  elevators. 

Go  to  the  centers  first,  as  they  have  said;  and,  by  the  way,  go  yourselves. 
There  is  enough  of  interest  for  you  to  spend  nine  months  all  up  the  Amazon,  down, 
across,  through  the  tunnel  at  the  mountains,  across  to  the  west  coast,  across  Panama, 
over  to  Jamaica,  along  Cuba,  to  Mexico,  and  up  Yucatan.  We  think  of  Yucatan  as 
Indian.  But  it  is  worth  while,  and  I  think  that  you  will  find  plenty  of  business ;  and 
if  you  go  yourselves  you  will  know  where  to  spend  efforts  and  where  to  save  your 
money.  Thank  you. 

,.  DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  saw  the  distinguished  Congressman,  Julius 
Kahn,  here.  Before  1  call  on  him  I  want  just  three  inspiring  words  from  that  hustling 
vice-consul  of  ours  at  Buenos  Aires,  who  is  able  to  talk  four  hundred  words  a 
minute. 

MR.  CHANDLER:  We  hear  a  great  deal  about  what  kind  of  goods  to  send  to 
Latin  America.  Now,  that  is  the  main  point,  the  goods.  One  thing  that  most  effi- 
cient instructor  and  upbuilder  of  trade,  Consul  Manning,,  has  stated,  which  is  very 
important,  is  the  commercial  training  of  young  men.  At  the  present  time  there 
is  only  one  high  school  of  commerce  in  the  country.  This  requires  a  three- 
years'  course  in  Spanish,  and  it  is  in  Boston,  while  a  great  work  is  being  done  by 
Dr.  Wilson's  institution  in  Philadelphia.  As  he  aptly  said,  the  study  of  those  sub- 
jects ought  not  to  be  confined  to  one  or  two  great  centers  alone,  but  every  city  in 
the  country  ought  to  be  doing  it.  It  is  most  important ;  we  cannot  possibly  over- 
estimate its  value.  Every  man  here  ought  to  take  a  part  in  the  promotion  of  the 
study  of  Spanish,  because  we  have  got  to  build  up  a  corps  of  trained  men  and  get 
after  these  countries  the  way  our  business  rivals,  Germany  and  France,  do.  The 
Germans  are  teaching  their  young  business  men  to  read,  write  and  speak  Spanish 
as  well  as  English.  They  must  not  merely  know  goods,  but  know  what  to  do  with 
them  in  those  languages. 

Another  thing  the  great  universities  have  been  taking  up  in  the  last  three  or 
four  years,  to  their  credit,  is  the  study  of  commerce  and  useful  modern  languages, 
especially  at  Harvard,  and  lately  Columbia  and  other  universities  are  making  that 
as  much  a  profession  as  law  and  medicine,  the  science  of  salesmanship. 

We  have  been  so  fortunate  here  as  to  have  a  great  many  experts  talking  to  us, 
notably  William  C.  Downs,  and  if  nothing  else  comes  from  this  Conference  we  will 
be  compensated.  I  want  every  man  to  work  for  Spanish ;  get  everybody  to  learning 
Spanish,  and  I  want  to  see  French,  German  and  other  languages  in  every  high  school 
in  the  country,  and  then  we  will  have  the  men  to  get  this  business. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  That  is  the  kind  of  men  we  have  had  here  work- 
ing valiantly  all  the  week. 

Congress  has  decided  that  the  great  exposition  to  celebrate  the  opening  of 
the  Panama  Canal  shall  be  held  in  the  city  of  San  Francisco.  As  that  will  have  so 
much  to  do  with  the  development  of  trade  with  Latin  America  and  with  the  practical 
uses  of  the  Panama  Canal,  I  am  going  to  allot  five  minutes  to  Hon.  Julius  Kahn, 
Member  of  Congress  from  California. 

ADDRESS  OF  HON.  JULIUS  KAHN  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Mr.  KAHN  said : 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  remember  as  a  little  boy  in  the 
State  of  California,  when  the  Chilenos,  as  we  call  them,  had  their  celebration  on  the 
anniversary  of  their  independence.  There  is  not  a  South  American  country,  there 
is  not  a  Central  American  country,  that  is  not  represented  in  the  State  of  California; 
from  the  southern  boundary  right  up  to  the  northern  boundary  everything  speaks 
of  the  Spanish  origin  of  our  State.  From  San  Diego  to  del  Norte,  and  from  the  Pa- 
cific over  to  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains,  all  tell  their  story  of  the  early  Spanish 
and  Mexican  explorers  who  helped  to  build  up  that  magnificent  Common  wealth. 

There  are  probably  two  things  that  will  stand  out  as  the  most  remarkable  of 
all  of  man's  handiwork  at  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century — the  building  and 
the  construction  of  the  Panama  Canal  and  the  rebuilding  of  San  Francisco.  A  little 
over  four  years  ago  the  whole  world  was  shocked  at  the  terrible  catastrophe  that 
befell  that  beautiful  city.  Within  sixty  hours  the  fire  had  destroyed  what  it  had 

244 


taken  sixty  years  to  rear;  but  there  was  no  whimpering  among  the  people.  They 
determined  to  rebuild  their  city,  and  with  energy  and  aggressiveness  and  a  spirit 
that  is  worthy  of  the  best  that  we  find  on  the  Western  Hemisphere  the  people  went 
to  work  with  a  will,  and  in  four  years  they  have  rebuilt  a  city  that  is  a  pride  to  all 
mankind. 

As  the  chairman  has  stated,  the  Congress  a  few  days  ago  authorized  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  upon  certain  conditions,  which  will  be  met  by  the 
people  of  San  Francisco,  to  invite  the  peoples  of  the  world  to  a  great  international 
exposition  there  in  commemoration  of  the  completion  of  the  Panama  Canal.  It 
is  going  to  be — for  I  know  the  temper  of  the  people  of  that  beautiful  section  of  our 
country — the  most  magnificent  exposition  that  the  world  has  ever  seen.  It  will  be 
there  that  the  merchants  of  the  world  will  exhibit  their  wares;  it  will  be  there  that 
an  opportunity  will  be  given  to  every  manufacturer,  every  producer,  every  man  who 
has  something  to  sell,  to  show  his  wares  to  the  best  possible  advantage,  and  it  will 
be  there  that  the  buyers  of  the  world  will  come  and  get  to  know  the  manufacturers 
of  the  world. 

Why,  that  Western  country  is  a  land  that  the  whole  world  has  heard  of;  it  is 
so  full  of  natural  wonders ;  it  is  so  full  of  beautiful  scenes ;  it  is  so  productive ;  it 
has  such  magnificent  possibilities,  that  the  whole  world  is  anxious  to  come  there  and 
see  it.  I  predict  that  there  will  be  a  greater  number  of  visitors  to  the  International 
Exposition  at  San  Francisco  than  any  that  has  ever  been  held  on  the  American 
Continent,  not  excepting  the  one  at  Chicago.  That  is  a  broad  statement  to  make, 
but  our  correspondence  from  all  over  the  world  shows  an  intense  interest,  an  interest 
that  has  probably  never  been  excelled  anywhere,  and  we  urge  the  people  of  the  South 
American  States  and  the  Central  American  States  and  Mexico  to  make  exhibits 
worthy  of  the  countries  of  Latin  America.  We  are  going  to  give  you  the  best  pos- 
sibility to  display  your  wares;  we  want  you  to  come;  we  want  your  Governments 
to  take  hold  of  the  proposition  and  help  us;  we  want  you  to  be  there  in  numbers 
unsurpassed,  and  we,  on  our  part,  guarantee  you  and  assure  you  that  when  you  do 
come  that  you  will  receive  a  welcome  that  will  make  your  hearts  glad  and  that  will 
enable  you  to  see  the  best  that  the  world  knows  today  in  science,  in  manufacture, 
in  the  products  of  our  fields  and  of  the  farms — the  best  in  everything. 

We  hope  that  those  who  represent  South  American  countries  here  will  take 
up  with  their  respective  Governments  this  matter  of  having  adequate  representation 
at  this  exposition.  It  means  wealth  to  you,  for  we  will  be  enabled  to  see  what  you 
have  to  produce,  and  it  means  new  markets  for  them.  We  will  be  able  to  get  better 
acquainted  out  there  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific ;  we  will  be  able  to  know  each  other 
better  than  we  do  today,  and  the  result  of  it  all  will  be  to  the  advantage  of  the 
people  of  the  Western  Hemisphere. 

I  know  that  out  there  in  California  the  people  today  are  already  beginning 
to  make  their  plans  for  this  exposition.  They  propose  to  leave  no  stone  unturned 
to  make  it  one  worthy  of  the  great  occasion  which  it  is  commemorating — the  comple- 
tion of  that  magnificent  canal,  probably  the  greatest  engineering  feat  in  the  history 
of  the  world.  They  propose  to  have  the  whole  world,  when  they  come  to  that  expo- 
sition at  San  Francisco,  say  that  it  is  the  very  acme  of  all  that  has  been  reached  in 
the  matter  of  international  expositions,  from  the  very  first  that  was  held  at  the 
Crystal  Palace  in  London  down  to  the  present  day.  You  can  help  to  make  it  a 
success.  We  appeal  to  you  for  your  friendly  and  kindly  assistance,  and,  in  return, 
we  guarantee  that  everything  that  you  will  do  to  help  make  it  a  success  will  redound 
to  your  own  credit  and  will  redound  to  the  welfare  of  the  people  of  the  Western 
Hemisphere. 

MR.  PETERS:  I  would  like  to  ask  you  to  join  with  me  in  a  vote  of  thanks  to 
the  unremitting  assistance  and  loyalty  of  the  staff  of  this  institution  in  accomplishing 
the  success  of  this  Conference.  All  in  favor  say  Aye;  those  opposed,  No.  It  is 
unanimously  carried.  The  staff  will  please  accept  this  acknowledgment  of  their 
assistance. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT  :  I  want  to  ask  if  there  is  anyone  here  who  has 
not  become  familiar  with  our  Bulletin.  If  so,  I  hope  he  will  get  a  copy,  because  that 
can  be  a  tangible  connection  between  any  man  who  attends  this  Conference  and  our 
institution  continually,  and  we  hope  you  may  be  good  enough  to  have  it  not  only 
in  your  office,  but  upon  your  library  table.  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  this  Conference 
has  failed  in  a  great  many  ways  to  accomplish  as  much  as  we  would  desire.  There 
have  been  marked  shortcomings ;  a  great  many  men  have  not  participated  whom  I 
would  like  to  have  called  upon,  but  I  do  not  believe  there  has  been  a  conference 

245 


held  in  Washington  in  years,  or  almost  in  the  country,  where  as  many  men  have 
spoken  and  spoken  wisely.  I  do  not  doubt  many  men  have  been  disappointed  be- 
cause we  could  not  give  them  a  long  place  in  the  program,  but  if  we  had  done  that 
we  would  have  been  through  Tuesday  instead  of  Friday,  and  if  we  had  done  that 
we  would  have  been  obliged  to  adjourn  Wednesday,  because  everybody  would  have 
gone.  As  it  is,  the  majority  of  the  delegates  have  remained  up  to  the  very  last 

I  thank  those  specialists ;  I  thank  these  eminent  men  who  have  come ;  I  thank 
the  delegates  for  the  co-operation  and  the  hearty  support  they  have  given  me  in  this 
Conference. 

I  hope,  perhaps  another  year,  we  may  hold  a  still  broader  Conference  and 
invite  business  men  to  come  here  from  Latin  America,  following  the  splendid  exam- 
ple set  by  Dr.  Wilson  a  number  of  years  ago,  and  therefore  have  the  Conference  far 
more  successful  than  this  has  been. 

I  thank  you  profoundly.  I  wish  you  all  to  go  away  not  only_  with  feeling  of 
official  connections  with  this  institution,  but  of  personal  relationship  with  me  and 
the  members  of  my  staff.  I  say  "my"  in  a  spirit  of  affection,  not  in  a  spirit  of  pro- 
prietor or  ownership,  because  I  am  so  fond  of  them  all  that  I  like  to  feel  that  they 
are  mine. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  cannot  think  of  any  man  more  appropriate  to  con- 
clude these  exercises.  This  morning  we  heard  most  eloquently  from  Elihu  Root; 
we  have  heard  Henry  White  and  others ;  we  have  that  man  who  has  raised  his  voice 
everywhere  for  peace,  and  I  want  you  to  notice  the  only  word  in  this  room,  at  the 
four  corners,  is  the  Latin  word  for  peace,  and  that  is  the  central  and  underlying  idea 
of  this  institution,  and  there  is  no  greater  way  to  promote  peace  than  through  com- 
merce. 

I  have  great  pleasure  in  introducing  Hon.  John  Temple  Graves. 

ADDRESS  OF  HON.  JOHN  TEMPLE  GRAVES, 
ORATOR  AND  AUTHOR 

Mr.  GRAVES  said: 

Mr.  Director  General  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Pan  Americas:  I  was 
about  to  ask  the  Director  General  if  I  might  be  permitted  to  deliver  my  brief 
and  informal  message  from  the  floor.  I  am  so  much  impressed  by  the  gen- 
erous words  which  he  has  spoken  in  introducing  me  that  I  would  have  preferred  to 
have  hidden  my  failure  to  fulfil  them  in  the  splendid  isolation  of  the  corner  in  which 
I  sat.  I  must  accept  what  he  has  said  not  so  much  with  anything  which  is  to  be 
fulfilled  in  the  brief  and  informal  words  that  I  bring  to  you,  but  as  an  expression 
of  the  extravagant  generosity  of  the  overcordial  heart  and  overgenerous  nature  of 
the  most  genial,  generous,  gifted  and  gracious  Director  General  that  ever  presided 
over  the  commercial  destinies  of  an  international  congress.  My  invitation  to  this 
Pan  American  Conference  is  just  an  hour  old.  An  hour  ago  I  had  from  the 
Director  General  a  bidding  to  be  here,  sent  through  Brother  McDowell,  who  is  the 
world's  high  ambassador  to  the  high  court  of  universal  peace.  With  such  a  message 
from  such  a  source  and  by  such  an  ambassador  I  should  have  been  less  than  myself 
and  less  than  all  my  traditions  if  I  failed  to  give  instant  hearty  response  by  my  pres- 
ence here. 

I  assure  you  that  I  am  not  a  casual  listener  to  your  deliberations.  I  have  sat 
for  an  hour  here,  serious,  earnest  and  attentive,  to  catch  the  spirit  of  this  splendid 
gathering.  While  I  sat  here  I  have  looked  at  the  maps  upon  these  walls;  I  have 
seen  all  that  they  meant  in  territorial  importance  and  all  that  they  meant  in  commer- 
cial promise  for  the  future.  Amazed  beyond  my  own  knowledge  of  the  geographical 
conditions  of  the  continent  in  which  I  live,  I  have  been  inspired  by  the  lessons  which 
have  been  told  by  this  map  within  my  rear.  I  have  seen,  I  confess,  to  my  astonish- 
ment, although  I  am  a  college  graduate,  that  one  country  of  South  America  has 
200,000  more  square  miles  than  this  great  and  majestic  republic  in  which  we  live.  I 
have  sat  here  to  see  upon  that  map  the  demonstration  of  all  the  wonderful  things 
that  are  contained  in  the  development  of  that  southern  country. 

There  (turning  to  the  map  to  the  rear  of  the  platform),  first,  lies  spread  before  us 
Brazil,  in  its  majestic  territory,  fashioned  like  a  club  that  is  destined  to  beat  its 
majestic  way  into  the  commerce  of  the  world ;  there,  upon  the  west,  Chile,  the  sword 
of  the  south,  as  keen  and  as  clear  as  the  wit  and  the  courage  of  its  gallant  and  .chiv- 
alric  people;  there,  in  the  center,  Paraguay,  nestling  like  a  nosegay  in  the  bosom 

246 


of  the  south,  while  upon  the  north  Guiana  and  Venezuela  and  Colombia  and  Peru 
and  Argentine,  all  in  their  crested  shields  surrounding  the  great  republic  to  which 
this  common  country  in  which  we  live  is  stretching  out  its  commercial  and  fraternal 
arms  today.  And  as  I  have  sat  here  this  afternoon  and  listened  to  the  way  in  which 
your  questions  and  your  answers— your  perfect  contributions  to  the  spirit  of  this 
occasion — have  been  given  and  responded  to,  I  have  realized  the  great  opportunity 
and  commercial  value  that  they  bear.  Men  of  all  these  different  countries  come  here 
to  tell  what  they  like  and  what  they  do  not  like;  what  they  need  and  what  they  do 
not  need ;  to  suggest  the  conditions  by  which  practical  trade  and  interest  may  be 
established  between  them  all. 

For  one  and  a  half  hours  I  have  sat  here,  and  I  learn  that  this  one  and  a  half 
hours  is  but  a  suggestion  of  the  hours  that  have  gone  before,  in  which  day  after  day 
the  representatives  of  the  commerce  of  the  northern  part  of  this  continent  and  the 
representatives  of  the  commerce  of  the  southern  part  of  this  continent  have  sat  here 
exchanging  ideas,  exchanging  suggestions,  until  we  seem  to  have  solved  within  our- 
selves at  least  the  intelligent  way  in  which  we  are  to  separate  ourselves  from  the 
difficulties  that  have  kept  us  apart  in  the  years  that  have  passed.  We  realize  that 
we  have  come  at  last  to  the  unity  of  trade  through  the  unity  of  intelligence  as  to  the 
ways  in  which  it  ought  to  be  brought  about. 

But  I  have  heard  something  more  than  that.  If  I  had  listened  simply  to  those 
commercial  talks,  I  might  have  gone  out  from  this  beautiful  occasion  with  the  idea 
that  the  spirit  of  this  great  republic  and  of  the  era  in  which  we  live  was  the  spirit 
of  practical  interest ;  that  the  dollar  only  was  the  despot  of  our  destinies,  and  that 
the  trademark  was  over  us  all.  That  is  good;  it  is  great;  it  is  wonderful.  But  I 
should  be  false  to  the  better  spirit  that  is  within  you,  to  the  better  spirit,  the  impulse 
that  sent  me  here,  if  I  did  not  catch  something  beneath  the  outer  crust  on  this  occa- 
sion better  and  nobler  even  than  the  spirit  of  trade.  I  realized  that  in  the  great 
world  in  which  we  live  there  is  a  better  and  larger  motive  that  underlies  nations 
and  men. 

A  few  days  ago  in  this  capital  of  our  country  I  heard  several  speeches  made. 
I  have  just  come  from  the  capitol  on  the  hill  to  this  beautiful  capitol  in  the  valley; 
from  the  capitol  of  strenuous  endeavor  to  this  capitol  in  the  beautiful  valley  of 
peace;  from  the  Congress  of  the  nation  to  the  Congress  of  Republics  and  the  pulse 
of  the  economic  republic  heart-beats  of  half  a  world,  and  I  have  realized  that  the 
better  spirit  that  underlies  this  occasion  is  that  spirit  which  has  sensed  and  sent  us 
here  to  meet,  that  we  who  know  one  another  better  may  love  one  another  better  to 
the  end  of  time.  I  have  realized  that  we  have  come  here  to  catch  that  spirit  that  is 
going  to  bring  the  world  to  the  most  majestic  event  in  all  its  human  or  prophetic 
history.  A  few  days  ago  the  President  of  the  United  States,  speaking  in  welcome 
to  this  Conference,  declared  that  he  was  in  favor  of  reciprocity  with  all  the  nations 
of  ^outh  America;  and  the  second  officer  of  the  Republic,  catching  the  echo  from 
the  lips  of  the  Chief  Executive,  declared  that  he  was  in  favor  of  reciprocity  with 
all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  The  language  may  have  been  extravagant,  according  to 
the  theory  of  partisans,  but  the  spirit  of  humanity,  higher  than  the  spirit  of  partisan- 
ship, catches  that  idea  and  makes  it  the  universal  pulse  of  our  common  humanity. 

A  few  days  ago  we  heard  Apponyi,  speaking  from  the  Old  World,  bringing 
the  message  that  the  countries  of  that  older  continent,  crushed  by  the  iron  heel  of 
war,  with  its  nations  staggering  to  bankruptcy  in  the  support  of  the  armed  armies 
that  tax  the  peoples  of  Europe  beyond  their  capacity  to  endure  the  strain  upon  their 
resources,  that  that  Old  World  caught  from  this  New  World,  north  and  south,  the 
impulse  that  was  to  start  to  solving  all  questions  and  going  to  banish  war.  And  I 
realize  that  that  is  the  spirit  that  underlies  this  great  occasion.  These  are  the  super- 
ficial things ;  these  are  the  things  that  touch  the  pocket  nerves  of  nations ;  but  there 
are  other  nerves  than  the  pocket  nerve  of  nations.  And  I  realized  that  in  the  hearts 
of  men  there  lives  that  universal  spirit  of  fraternity  that  is  sweeping  thus  splendidly 
and  swiftly  to  a  better  and  greater  thing.  I  realized  that  the  time  has  come  when, 
with  parliaments  in  other  nations,  we  were  at  last  about  to  celebrate  the  establish- 
ment of  a  parliament  there,  with  the  people  speaking  through  organic  bodies  legisla- 
tion, with  the  president  of  the  world  and  the  statesmen  of  the  world  breathing  the 
common  spirit  of  humanity;  that  we  have  come  to  that  better  thing,  and  that  when 
we  have  fashioned  and  solved,  as  we  ought  to  have  solved,  the  problems  of  trade, 
as  we  ought  to  have  solved  the  problems  of  commerce,  and  those  conditions  which 
establish  us  in  prosperity  and  in  the  development  of  those  resources  that  will  enable 
us  to  do  the  things  that  as  nations  we  should  do,  that  we  are  coming  then,  and 

247 


that  soon,  to  that  better  time  when  these  parliaments  of  nations  shall  meet  not  in 
separate  stations,  but  in  one  great  aggregated  whole ;  when,  instead  of  the  United 
States  of  America  and  the  United  Republics  of  South  America,  they  shall  come  the 
united  republics  of  all  America  and  the  united  nations  of  the  world;  and  when  these 
parliaments  which  meet  here  as  parliaments  of  trade  and  there  as  parliaments  of 
commerce  will  come  to  meet  at  last,  and  that,  I  hope,  in  God's  great  providence  soon, 
as  a  congress  of  all  the  parliaments  of  the  world,  in  which  one  last  great  edict  shall 
be  voiced  to  the  republic,  not  from  the  lips  of  emperors,  or  presidents,  or  kings,  be- 
cause peace  must  be  legislated  into  the  world  through  the  lips  of  parliaments  that 
make  its  laws;  and  I  hope  that  we  shall  live  to  see  that  time  when  the  republics  of 
Spiith  America  shall  come  at  last  with  this  great  republic  of  North  America  to 
stand  here  with  the  republics  and  the  kingdoms  and  the  nations,  despotisms,  mon- 
archies and  republics  of  the  Old  World  in  one  great  congress  in  this  capital  of  our 
common  country,  where  this  great  spirit  of  peace  shall  be  the  spirit  that  came  upon 
the  plains  of  Bethlehem  when  the  angels  sang  that  first  great  anthem,  which  shall 
be  the  world's  last  anthem,  and  when  we  shall  come  at  last  to  see  the  majestic  dream 
made  magnificent  in  the  reality  of  a  universal  peace,  and  England  and  America,  and 
South  America  and  the  East,  and  Germany  and  France,  and  all  the  great  kingdoms 
of  every  section  of  the  world  where  men  live  and  breathe  and  aspire  to  better  things, 
shall  come  with  one  united  voice  to  sweep  the  world  in  that  better  anthem  that  is 
the  reflex  of  the  anthem  of  the  plains  of  Bethlehem,  when  our  war  drums  throb  no 
longer  and  all  battle  flags  are  furled  in  one  parliament  of  nations,  the  federation  of 
the  world. 

DIRECTOR  GENERAL  BARRETT:  I  am  sure  that  is  an  inspiring  address  to  incite 
us  to  greater  efforts  for  Pan  American  comity  and  friendship  and  commerce;  and 
so,  with  the  words  of  John  Temple  Graves  in  our  thoughts,  I  declare  the  Pan  Ameri- 
can Commercial  Conference,  held  under  the  auspices  of  the  Pan  American  Union, 
in  the  city  of  Washington,  from  February  13  to  17,  adjourned  sine  die. 


248 


-  COMMBRCE-PISCALYEATU3Q3-1Q- 


TAN  AvttwtcAK  UNIOM 

Wask   B.C. 


AD  DEN  DA 


THE  "PANAMA  CANAL" 
AND  "ALL  AMERICA" 

By  Director  General  Barrett 

DIRECTOR  General  John  Barrett  received 
so  many  requests  for  copies  of  an  address 
he  delivered  at  Peoria,  Illinois,  February 
22,  191  1,  on  the  subject  of  "Getting  Ready  for 
the  Panama  Canal,"  and  also  of  an  article  of  his 
which  appeared  in  the  North  American  Review, 
of  August  1910,  entitled,  "All  America,"  that  they 
are  reproduced  in  part  here. 


"GET  READY  FOR  THE  PANAMA  CANAL" 

It  is  not  possible  for  me  to  find  language  too  strong  in  which  to  urge  upon 
you  and  upon  all  the  business  interests  of  the  country  the  imperative  necessity  of 
getting  ready  for  the  Panama  Canal.  Every  commercial  organization  in  the  land 
whose  membership  is  interested  in  Pan  American  trade,  and  every  manufacturing, 
exporting  and  importing  house  which  desires  to  gain  a  share  in  the  commerce  of 
the  canal,  should  have  as  its  motto  and  slogan,  from  today  until  the  first  merchant 
vessel  passes  through  that  mighty  waterway,  these  words :  "Get  ready  for  the  canal." 

Unless  they  adopt  this  suggestion  and  follow  it  persistently  and  consistently, 
the  vast  commercial  interests  of  the  United  States  will  suddenly  awake  some  day 
in  1914  or  1915  to  find  that  their  competitors  in  Great  Britain,  Germany,  France 
and  Japan — and  all  credit  to  them — not  only  have  been  getting  ready,  but  are  ready 
to  gain  an  advantage  which  years  of  effort  on  our  part  will  not  overcome.  This  is 
no  false  alarm.  It  is  not  an  exaggeration.  It  is  not  a  declaration  of  hostility  to 
European  and  Asiatic  energy  and  enterprise.  It  is  simply  a  statement  of  fact.  I 
admire  the  spirit  of  the  Britishers,  the  Germans,  the  Japanese  and  the  Frenchmen, 
who  are  shrewd  and  forceful  enough  to  recognize  the  value  of  the  field  and  oppor- 
tunity, but  I  deplore  the  inactivity  of  the  average  American  who  fails  to  appreciate 
that  he  must  be  a  leader  and  not  a  laggard  in  a  contest  of  this  character. 

We  are  devoting  too  much  time  to  oratory  and  essays,  to  speeches  and  editorials, 
describing  what  a  mighty  achievement  is  the  canal,  what  honor  it  brings  to  our 
nation  and  people,  and  what  an  example  we  are  setting  the  world  in  its  engineering, 
in  sanitation  of  the  canal  zone,  and  in  unprecedented  physical  construction.  We  are 
talking  and  writing  too  much  in  general  terms  about  the  marvelous  commerce  it  will 
develop  and  the  wonderful  changes  it  will  make  in  the  commercial  map  of  the  world. 

Let  us  have  more  action!  Let  us  have  more  real  study  and  investigation  of 
what  actual  commerce  the  canal  will  open  to  us.  Let  us  have  more  downright  prepa- 
ration for  the  existing  conditions  of  demand  and  supply  and  of  foreign  competition. 
Let  us  become  familiar  with  the  field,  let  us  visit  its  cities  and  peoples,  let  us  study 
its  languages,  let  us  learn  its  customs,  habits  and  traditions,  and  let  us  show  more 
respect  for  its  history,  its  civilization  and  its  progress. 

Let  us  stop  generalizing  on  Pan  American  comity  and  friendship  and  get  down 
to  real  evidences  of  comity  and  friendship.  Let  us  stop  preaching  opportunity — let 
us  seize  the  opportunity.  Let  us  prove  that  it  is  not  merely  a  selfish  proposition — 
the  finding  of  a  market  for  the  products  of  the  United  States,  but  a  "give  and  take" 
transaction — the  providing  a  market  in  the  United  States  for  the  products  of  the 
countries  of  Latin  America,  and  so  increasing  their  wealth  and  prosperity  as  well  as 
our  own.  If  our  sister  republics  believe  and  see  that  this  is  our  sincere  attitude 
there  will  be  no  limit  to  our  Pan  American  trade  possibilities. 

You  ask  me  for  some  hard  facts  about  the  Panama  Canal  and  Pan  American 
commerce.  Here  they  are !  South  from  Panama  to  Punta  Arenas  on  the  Straits  of 
Magellan  is  a  coast  line  of  5000  miles — more  than  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coast  lines 
of  the  United  States.  To  it  are  tributary  five  rich,  developing  republics — Colombia, 
Ecuador,  Peru,  Bolivia  and  Chili.  Today  isolated  from  Europe  and  the  eastern  sec- 
tion of  the  United  States,  they  conduct,  in  spite  of  this  handicap,  an  annual  foreign 
commerce  valued  at  $300,000,000.  This  is  100  per  cent,  greater  than  a  decade  ago. 
When  the  canal  is  opened  and  there  is  a  direct  route  from  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf 
ports — from  interior  points  like  Peoria — to  the  principal  ports  of  the  South  American 
Pacific  coast,  this  commerce  will  expand  with  great  rapidity  and  amount  in  one  year 
to  more  than  the  entire  cost  of  the  Panama  Canal ! 

251 


Then,  again,  northeast  from  Panama  to  San  Diego,  in  California,  is  another 
remarkable  coast  line  that  the  opening  of  the  canal  will  for  the  first  time  make 
directly  accessible  to  ships  from  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  ports.  It  has  a  reach  of  3,000 
miles  and  includes  the  western  sections  of  Panama,  Costarica,  Nicaragua,  Honduras, 
Salvador,  Guatemala  and  Mexico.  This  coast  even  now  has  a  foreign  trade  valued 
at  $100,000,000,  which  will  grow  in  quantity  and  value  upon  the  completion  and  use 
of  the  canal. 

To  sum  up,  then,  we  have  a  Latin  American  coast  line  of  8000  miles,  extending 
from  the  Mexican-California  line  south  to  Cape  Horn.  Upon  this  debouch  12  in- 
dependent countries  with  a  population  of  30,000,000,  in  the  infancy  of  their  material 
development  and  offering  vast  opportunities  for  capital  and  commerce.  It  already 
buys  and  sells  products  worth  $400,000,000  without  the  canal.  What  will  it  do  when 
the  canal  is  completed?  Are  not  these  few  facts  sufficient  reason  why  Peoria  and 
every  manufacturing  city  of  the  community  should  take  up  the  cry:  "Get  ready  for 
the  Panama  Canal?" 


"ALL  AMERICA" 

The  purpose  of  this  brief  discussion  is  to  awaken  among  thinking  men  more 
active  interest  in  the  20  resourceful,  ambitious,  and  yet  too  little  appreciated  Ameri- 
can republics  lying  to  the  south  and  southeast  of  the  United  States.  That  all  of  them, 
from  Mexico  and  Cuba  south  to  Argentina  and  Chili,  are  entering  upon  a  period 
of  remarkable  progress  and  development  is  evident  from  what  they  have  done  and 
are  doing.  The  ignorance  among  the  majority  of  the  people  of  the  United  States 
and  Europe  of  their  past  history,  their  present  achievement,  their  limitless  resources, 
and  their  immense  potentialities  is  almost  startling.  This  lack  of  knowledge  is  not, 
however,  so  surprising  when  we  remember  that  the  northern  world  has  been  largely 
occupied  during  the  last  20  years  with  its  own  political  progress  and  the  exploitation 
of  its  own  material  resources.  If  there  is  a  prevailing  lack  of  acquaintance  today 
with  Latin  America,  the  fault  rests  with  the  people  and  press  of  the  country  and  not 
with  the  Government,  for  the  State  Department,  under  the  able  direction  of  Secretary 
Knox  and  Assistant  Secretary  Wilson,  devotes  almost  75  per  cent,  of  its  time  and 
energy  to  the  consideration  of  Latin  American  diplomatic  and  commercial  questions. 
The  correspondence,  moreover,  which  is  now  pouring  in  great  bulk  into  the  Pan 
American  Union — an  institution  devoted  to  the  development  of  Pan  American  comity 
and  commerce — from  every  part  of  the  world,  and  the  tenor  of  editorial  and  de- 
scriptive articles  appearing  today  in  the  press,  demonstrate  beyond  question  that 
Latin  America  as  a  whole  and  its  salient  characteristics  are  destined  soon  to  be  better 
understood.  It  is  most  appropriate  now  that  there  should  be  some  special  considera- 
tion of  Latin  America,  because  there  is  in  session  at  Buenos  Aires,  the  Fourth  Inter- 
national Conference  of  American  States,  which  will  consider  many  questions  having 
a  direct  bearing  upon  the  welfare,  prosperity  and  the  common  interests  of  all  the 
American  nations. 

The  enthusiastic  and  patriotic  citizen  of  the  United  States,  who  has  not 
traveled  extensively  enough  about  the  world  to  realize  that  there  are  some  other 
countries  of  great  physical  and  economic  features,  is  in  the  habit  of  describing  this 
and  that  characteristic  of  his  city,  State  or  country  as  "the  biggest  thing  on  earth" 
or  "the  largest  in  the  world."  The  man  with  this  habit  feels  almost  stunned  when 
he  is  told  that  the  entire  area  of  the  United  States  proper  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific  and  from  Canada  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  can  be  placed  inside  of  the  Republic 

252 


of  Brazil,  with  room  left  over  to  hold  New  York  State  nearly  four  times;  that  out 
of  the  Amazon  flows  every  morning  several  times  the  volume  of  water  which  the 
Mississippi  empties  into  the  Gulf;  that,  again,  down  in  Southern  South  America  the 
Parana  carries  to  the  sea  a  flood  greater  by  half  than  the  Mississippi ;  that  the  city 
of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  the  capital  of  Brazil,  has  expended  more  money  during  the  last  five 
years  in  public  improvements  than  any  city  in  the  United  States  with  the  exception  of 
New  York  and  Chicago,  and  boasts  now  of  nearly  a  million  population ;  that  Buenos 
Aires,  the  capital  of  Argentina,  has  one  million  two  hundred  thousand  people  within 
its  limits,  and  is  growing  more  rapidly  than  any  city  in  North  America  with  the 
exception  of  New  York  and  Chicago;  that  Montevideo,  the  capital  of  Uruguay,  and 
Valparaiso,  the  port  of  Chile,  are  expending  a  larger  sum  in  the  construction  of 
harbors  suited  for  the  largest  shipping  of  the  world  than  is  being  devoted  at  the 
moment  to  any  harbor  in  the  United  States;  that  Bolivia  is  building  a  system  of 
railroads  over  its  mountains  and  down  into  surrounding  valleys  which  rival  the 
railroad  systems  of  Colorado ;  that  Lima,  Peru,  has  a  university  which  was  one 
hundred  years  old  before  Harvard  was  founded ;  that  Ecuador,  Colombia  and  Vene- 
zuela possess  a  variety  of  climate  and  resources,  due  to  their  mingling  of  high 
plateaus  and  valleys,  unsurpassed  in  the  world. 

If,  after  considering  these  few  facts,  it  should  be  desirable  to  still  convince 
the  skeptical  and  superficial  observer,  and  he  wished  further  data  to  form  an  opinion 
about  the  other  southern  republics,  it  might  be  mentioned  that  the  five  Central 
American  republics  of  Guatemala,  Honduras,  Salvador,  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Rica 
are  the  first  group  of  nations  in  the  history  of  the  world  to  sign  and  ratify  a  conven- 
tion requiring  the  settlement  of  all  disputes  between  them  before  an  international 
court  of  justice  and  without  recourse  to  arms,  such  treaty  having  been  negotiated 
at  the  Central  American  Peace  Conference  held  under  the  roof  of  the  International 
Bureau  of  the  American  Republics  in  Washington  in  December,  1907;  that  Mexico, 
under  the  wise,  strong  and  benevolent  administration  of  General  Diaz,  has  developed 
such  a  measure  of  stability  and  prosperity  that  it  has  invested  within  its  limits  eight 
hundred  millions  of  United  States  capital ;  that  little  Panama,  known  practically  for 
the  sole  reason  that  through  it  is  being  constructed  the  great  canal,  has  large  areas 
of  land  suited  for  agriculture  and  extensive  forests  awaiting  legitimate  exploitation ; 
that  Cuba,  now  beginning  a  new  and  critical  era  in  its  history,  is  possessed  of  a 
climate,  soil  and  possibilities  which  will  make  its  wealth  of  the  present  seem  small 
in  comparison  to  the  potentialities  of  the  future;  and  that  the  Dominican  Republic 
and  Hayti,  even  though  they  may  have  led  a  somewhat  troubled  existence,  are  real 
garden  spots  of  the  Caribbean,  where  eventually  plenty  and  prosperity  must  be  pre- 
vailing characteristics. 

Lest  this  summary  just  given  above  should  be  misleading,  and  the  criticism 
should  be  made  that  too  strong  a  picture  was  being  drawn  of  the  great  features  of 
Latin  America,  it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  tendency  of  the  comment  and 
description  in  the  United  States  and  Europe  about  Latin  America  is  patronizing,  not 
laudatory.  We  hear  too  much  of  the  unfavorable  side.  We  are  too  continually 
regaled  with  exaggerated  stories  of  revolutions,  of  trying  climates  and  of  unfavorable 
environment.  If  one  listens  to  a  group  of  persons  discussing  Latin  America,  the 
prevailing  note  is  usually  one  of  unfair  criticism  rather  than  of  just  consideration. 
Instead  of  always  holding  the  sixpence  of  revolution  and  alleged  instability  of  gov- 
ernment so  close  to  our  eyes  that  we  cannot  see  the  good  beyond,  let  us  clear  our 
vision  and  acknowledge  that  two-thirds  of  the  entire  area  and  population  of  the 
twenty  Latin  America  republics  have  been  characterized  with  no  serious  revolution 
during  the  last  decade  and  a  half,  and  that  European  financiers  who  do  not  wilfully 

253 


make  a  mistake  are  today  pouring  millions  of  dollars  into  Latin  America  for  the 
construction  of  interior  railroads  and  electric  street-car  lines  in  the  municipalities, 
for  the  development  of  water-powers  and  the  opening  of  mines,  for  public  improve- 
ments of  all  kinds,  and  for  the  exploitation  of  agricultural  and  timber  wealth.  Con- 
servative opinion  in  the  moneyed  centers  of  the  Old  World  is  beginning  to  believe 
that  investments  in  the  larger  portion  of  Latin  America  are  now  practically  as  safe 
as  they  are  in  the  United  States,  and  financiers  are  backing  up  this  belief  by  purchas- 
ing the  stocks  and  bonds  of  a  large  variety  of  companies  doing  business  in  that  part 
of  the  world.  The  readiness  with  which  the  Brazilian  and  Argentine  loans  were 
bought  up  shows  the  growing  confidence  in  these  republics.  Why  not?  The  annual 
foreign  trade  of  Argentina,  located  in  the  south  temperate  zone,  like  the  United  States 
in  the  north,  covering  an  area  of  nearly  equal  to  half  of  that  of  the  United  States 
proper,  and  yet  having  only  a  population  of  seven  millions  of  people,  is  valued  at 
approximately  seven  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  or  an  average  of  nearly  one  hundred 
dollars  per  head.  There  are  few  countries  in  the  world,  even  among  the  oldest  and 
most  prosperous,  which  can  show  figures  to  compare  favorably  with  these. 

Although  Brazil  has  been  somewhat  handicapped  by  unfavorable  conditions  in 
the  coffee  trade,  it  has  held  its  head  high  and  everywhere  gives  evidence  of  great 
material  advancement.  Its  annual  commerce  approximates  five  hundred  millions  of 
dollars.  Chile,  which,  if  transplanted  from  Southwestern  South  America  to  a  corre- 
sponding position  on  the  Pacific  coast  of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  would 
reach  from  the  Mexico-California  line  north  into  the  very  heart  of  Alaska,  has  a 
foreign  trade  valued  at  two  hundred  millions  of  dollars  annually,  and  it  is  con- 
structing a  great  longitudinal  railway  which  will  require  scores  of  millions  of  dollars 
to  complete,  and  yet  it  goes  about  it  as  if  the  task  were  an  every-day  one.  Similar 
figures  might  be  cited  about  the  other  American  republics,  but  only  one  other  fact 
need  be  mentioned  to  prove  that  all  Latin  America  is  making  mighty  strides  in  com- 
merce— and  commerce  is  often  described  as  the  life-blood  of  nations.  The  total 
volume  of  the  foreign  trade  of  these  twenty  republics,  including  exports  and  imports, 
approximates  now  annually  two  billions  of  dollars,  or  a  sum  equal  to  two-thirds  of 
the  entire  foreign  commerce  of  the  United  States.  When  it  is  further  remembered 
that  this  represents  an  increase  of  one  billion  dollars  in  ten  years,  or  one  hundred 
millions  of  dollars  per  annum,  the  critic  who  looks  upon  Latin  America  dispar- 
agingly experiences  a  feeling  that  perhaps  he  should  change  his  point  of  view. 

It  is  not  intended  within  the  limits  of  this  discussion  to  employ  the  usual 
arguments  in  favor  of  building  up  our  trade  with  Latin  America,  or  to  set  forth 
specifically  the  affirmative  and  negative  sides  of  government  aid  to  steamship  lines, 
of  opening  banks  controlled  by  United  States  capital,  or  of  negotiating  reciprocal 
tariff  treaties,  etc.,  but  rather  to  develop  a  keener  appreciation  of  what  Latin  America 
actually  is.  As  the  real  value  and  quality  of  a  country  are  measured  not  alone  by  its 
natural  wealth,  but  by  its  people  and  its  institutions,  it  is  well  to  note  some  salient 
characteristics  under  these  heads.  And  while,  of  course,  there  are  exceptions,  it  is 
undoubtedly  true  that  the  average  citizen  of  the  United  States  or  Europe  who  spends 
much  time  in  Latin  America,  or  takes  up  his  residence  there,  learns  to  love  and 
admire  the  Latins  and  to  give  them  credit  for  qualities  and  achievements  too  often 
entirely  forgotten  by  the  passing  or  superficial  observer.  The  average  traveler  who 
makes  a  rush  journey  through  Latin  American  countries  sees  little  of  the  higher  and 
better  educated  classes.  He  draws  his  conclusions  too  often  from  a  certain  element 
of  the  natives  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact  in  the  more  petty  details  of  his  travels. 
If  he  has  time,  however,  to  get  behind  the  scenes,  as  it  were,  there  is  not  an  impor- 
tant town  in  all  Latin  America  where  he  cannot  meet  a  large  number  of  men  and 

254 


women  of  superior  refinement  and  charm.  If  he  proves  his  worth,  he  will  experience 
a  hospitality  equal  to  that  given  him  in  any  part  of  the  United  States  or  Europe. 
If  he  is  polite,  gentle  and  appreciative,  he  will  receive  a  treatment  in  return  that  will 
cause  him  to  carry  away  most  delightful  memories. 

If  there  is  one  quality  which  makes  for  real  learning,  and  which  the  hurry  and 
bustle  of  our  life  has  caused  us  to  neglect,  it  is  thoroughness  in  education  and  study. 
The  average  Latin  American  who  aspires  to  any  position  of  scholarship,  or  who  may 
wish  to  become  a  successful  writer,  professor,  priest,  lawyer,  doctor  or  engineer, 
pursues  his  studies  to  an  extent  and  with  a  thoroughness  that,  it  must  be  frankly  but 
truthfully  stated,  is  not  always  characteristic  of  his  neighbor  in  the  United  States. 
Without  any  reflection  whatever  on  the  graduating  classes  of  our  leading  universities 
and  colleges,  it  is  safe  to  contend  that  a  larger  number  of  men  graduate  from  the 
Latin  American  universities  with  a  comprehensive  grasp  of  all  the  subjects  they  have 
taken  up  than  do  from  the  average  American  high  institution  of  learning.  If  the 
standards  required  for  the  practice  of  the  learned  professions  of  the  twenty  Latin 
American  republics  were  put  alongside  the  standards  required  in  the  forty-six  States 
of  the  United  States,  the  comparisons  would  be  unfortunate  for  the  latter. 

The  North  American  newspaper  man  often  pokes  fun  at  the  Latin  American 
newspaper  because  it  devotes  such  a  large  proportion  of  its  space  each  day  to  ex- 
tended discussions  of  literary,  scientific  and  legal  subjects;  and  yet,  if  these  features 
were  not  included,  the  constituency  of  those  papers  would  feel  as  if  they  were  not 
treated  with  respect.  It  is  an  open  question  if  it  is  not  better  to  fill  the  papers  with 
such  matter  when  it  is  appreciated  than  with  long,  extended  stories  of  crimes  and 
casualties.  Newspapers  claim  that  their  standards  are  determined  entirely  by  the 
people  who  read  them.  This  argument  applied  to  Latin  America  is  certainly  a  com- 
pliment to  its  intelligence. 

Only  recently  a  prominent  newspaper  in  the  United  States  emphasized  "graft" 
and  laxity  of  morals  as  characteristics  in  Latin  America.  Alas !  if  there  ever  was  an 
illustration  of  the  old  figure  of  speech  that  a  man  living  in  a  glass  house  should  not 
throw  stones,  it  is  found  in  the  criticism  by  the  people  of  the  United  States  of  "graft" 
and  laxity  of  morals  in  Latin  America !  In  view  of  the  constant  discussion  and  evi- 
dence of  "graft"  in  the  leading  municipalities  of  the  United  States,  it  is  well  to  point 
out  that  it  costs  far  less  to  administer  such  great  cities  as  Rio  Janeiro,  Buenos  Aires, 
Montevideo,  Santiago,  Mexico  and  Havana  than  it  does  cities  of  corresponding  size 
in  the  United  States.  And  yet  in  the  excellence  of  their  water  and  sewerage  systems, 
in  the  cleanliness  of  their  streets,  in  the  quality  of  their  schoolhouses  and  public 
buildings,  in  the  extent  of  their  parks  and  boulevards,  and  in  their  adoption  of 
modern  sanitary  measures  they  can  compare  favorably  with  and  even  surpass  the 
majority  of  the  municipalities  of  the  United  States.  A  searching  investigation  of 
the  twoscore  millions  which  Rio  Janeiro  expended  in  the  building  of  new  streets  and 
docks,  of  a  similar  sum  which  Buenos  Aires  expended  in  the  building  of  its  wonder- 
ful system  of  wharves,  and  of  the  remarkable  improvements  that  have  recently  been 
made  in  Mexico  City,  show  no  such  evidences  of  so-called  "graft"  as  have  been  found 
in  similar  enterprises  in  the  United  States.  Now  and  then  there  may  be  some  local 
official  or  a  Governor  of  a  province  of  a  lesser  country  who  fattens  himself  on  a 
system  of  tribute,  but  this  is  no  longer  characteristic  of  the  great  resourceful  coun- 
tries of  Latin  America,  and  it  will  soon  pass  away  from  those  where  it  is  now  alleged 
to  be  chronic. 

In  all  discussions  of  the  laxity  of  morals  there  comes  up  the  one  great  ques- 
tion of  preserving  the  sanctity  of  the  family.  Divorce  is  almost  unknown  throughout 
Latin  America,  and  race  suicide  is  never  even  mentioned.  The  average  high-class 

255 


family  of  Latin  America  can  usually  boast  of  a  family  ranging  from  five  to  ten  chil- 
dren. Domestic  infelicity,  of  course,  exists,  but  it  does  not  stalk  abroad  and  make 
blase  the  growing  boys  and  girls  of  the  land.  The  percentage  of  Latin  American 
women  of  good  families  who  go  wrong,  to  use  an  expressive  phrase,  is  indeed  small. 
The  average  Latin  American  mother  has  a  regard  for  the  family  tie  and  for  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Church  in  which  she  has  been  brought  up  which  forever  protects  her 
from  unfortunate  alliances.  The  average  Latin  American  man  is  often  described  as 
being  much  more  of  a  devil  than  he  really  is.  His  pride  in  his  family  is  a  strong 
characteristic,  and  even  if  at  times  he  may  quietly  conduct  questionable  relations 
with  those  outside  the  conventional  pale  of  society,  he  will  invariably  resist  with  all 
his  strength  of  body  and  mind  any  suggestion  that  he  is  not  loyal  to  his  family.  The 
divorce  records  for  the  city  of  Chicago  in  one  week  will  surpass  those  of  all  the  Latin 
American  cities  in  a  year.  The  number  of  men  who  live  apart  from  their  wives  in 
the  United  States  as  compared  to  those  in  Latin  America  is  five  to  one.  If  the 
existence  of  a  nation  depends  upon  the  preservation  of  the  family,  the  future  of 
Latin  America  cannot  be  considered  as  in  danger. 

It  is  not  possible  within  the  limits  of  this  article  to  describe  carefully  the 
educational  spirit,  the  scientific  research,  the  musical  fondness,  the  appreciation  of 
fine  art,  the  literary  tendencies,  the  social  finesse  which  characterize  the  principal 
cities  and  the  controlling  population  of  Latin  America,  but  they  are  well  worthy  of 
investigation  on  the  part  of  the  person  who  would  know  well  that  portion  of  the 
world.  Latin  America's  historical  record  is,  moreover,  so  full  of  heroic  achievement 
and  high  statesmanship  that  it  should  be  better  understood  in  the  colleges  and  schools 
of  the  United  States.  The  stories  of,  for  example,  such  men  as  San  Martin  and 
Bolivar,  who  gained  the  independence,  respectively,  of  Southern  and  Northern 
South  America,  should  be  known  equally  well  with  the  great  work  of  our  own  Wash- 
ington, from  whom  these  Latin  American  leaders  gained  their  inspiration.  The 
story  of  how  each  one  of  these  twenty  countries  won  its  independence  is  so  romantic 
and  thrilling  that  the  modern  educator  might  often  question  if  it  were  not  better  to 
pay  less  attention  to  what  was  done  by  the  heroes  of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome  and 
of  the  Middle  Ages  and  more  to  what  was  accomplished  by  the  heroes  of  our  sister 
nations  in  modern  times. 

High  society,  today,  perhaps,  gives  more  attention  to  music  than  to  any  other 
form  of  entertainment,  but  it  does  not  appreciate  the  fact  that  Buenos  Aires  has  an 
opera-house  far  surpassing  anything  in  the  United  States  and  ranking  among  the  best 
in  the  world.  The  greatest  singers  go  there  as  well  as  to  New  York.  Our  news- 
papers are  often  cited  as  the  best  evidence  of  our  splendid  material  progress,  and  yet 
no  newspaper  in  the  United  States  has  a  plant  and  equipment  more  costly  than  those 
of  the  principal  papers  in  Buenos  Aires  and  Rio  Janeiro. 

Having  made  these  observations  on  Latin  American  conditions,  it  may  be  well 
to  call  attention  to  the  work  that  the  International  Bureau  of  the  American  Republics, 
located  in  Washington,  D.  C,  is  doing  for  the  development  of  better  acquaintance, 
friendship  and  commerce  among  the  American  nations.  The  existence  of  such  an 
institution  has  not  generally  been  appreciated  in  the  United  States  because  of  the 
simple  fact  that  the  American  people,  up  to  the  time  that  Elihu  Root  made  his 
famious  journey  around  South  America,  had  not  given  sufficient  attention  to  that 
part  of  the  world  to  recognize  the  efforts  being  exerted  by  this  international  agency 
in  Washington  to  make  Latin  America  better  known  in  the  United  States  and  the 
United  States  better  known  in  Latin  America.  Upon  Mr.  Root's  return  from  his 
remarkable  journey  he  infused  new  life  into  the  International  Bureau,  until  now 
it  is  accomplishing  results  for  Pan  American  commerce  and  comity  never  expected 

256 


a  few  years  ago.  Established  in  1890  by  the  First  International  Conference  of 
American  States,  which  was  held  in  Washington  in  the  winter  of  1889-90,  and  pre- 
sided over  by  James  G.  Elaine,  it  signalized  the  completion  of  its  first  score  of  years 
by  taking  up  its  permanent  abode  in  a  magnificent  new  building  which  has  been 
described  as  a  "Temple  of  Peace,  Friendship  and  Commerce."  For  its  construction 
all  the  American  Governments  contributed,  and  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie  gave  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Its  cornerstone  laying  in  May,  1908,  was  one 
of  the  notable  historical  events  of  Washington.  Epoch-making  speeches  were  made 
by  ex-President  Roosevelt,  ex-Secretary  Root,  the  Brazilian  Ambassador,  Mr. 
Nabuco,  and  Mr.  Carnegie.  Three  thousand  people,  prominent  in  the  official  and 
private  life  of  the  capital,  witnessed  the  placing  of  this  stone  coincident  with  the 
raising  of  the  flag  and  of  the  playing  of  the  national  anthems  of  the  twenty-one 
nations  which  have  a  comon  interest  in  this  structure. 

The  celebration  of  the  dedication  and  occupation  of  the  new  building  in  April 
of  this  year  was  also  made  notable  by  addresses  of  President  Taft,  Secretary  Knox, 
Ambassador  de  la  Barra  of  Mexico,  Senator  Elihu  Root  and  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie, 
delivered  in  the  presence  of  a  distinguished  audience  in  the  noble  assembly  hall  of 
the  new  edifice. 

The  International  Bureau  is  supported  by  the  annual  appropriations,  based 
on  population,  of  all  these  Governments,  and  its  affairs  are  controlled  by  a  governing 
board  made  up  of  the  diplomatic  representatives  of  the  Latin  American  republics  in 
Washington,  presided  over  by  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States  as  chair- 
man ex  oiHcio.  This  board,  in  turn,  elects  the  director,  who  is  its  executive,  and 
therefore  an  international  officer.  Its  correspondence  averages  over  six  thousand 
letters  received  and  answered  each  month.  For  commercial  purposes  it  is  in  touch 
in  both  North  and  South  America  with  manufacturers,  merchants,  exporters  and 
importers,  doing  all  it  can  to  facilitate  the  exchange  and  building  up  of  trade  among 
the  American  nations.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  in  touch  with  men  in  public  life, 
university  and  college  presidents,  professors  and  students,  writers  and  newspaper 
men,  scientists  and  travelers,  providing  them  with  a  large  variety  of  information 
which  will  increase  their  interest  in  the  different  American  nations.  It  publishes 
numerous  handbooks,  pamphlets  and  maps.  It  issues  each  month  a  bulletin  giving 
the  latest  information  in  regard  to  the  commerce,  laws,  new  enterprises  and  general 
development  of  each  republic.  The  Columbus  Memorial  Library,  which  is  under  the 
direction  of  the  bureau,  possesses  a  large  collection  of  books — historical,  travel, 
narrative,  statistical  and  governmental — relating  to  every  American  nation,  and  can 
be  consulted  without  charge  by  any  responsible  person.  Nearly  eighteen  thousand 
volumes  are  now  found  upon  its  shelves. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  be  fitting  to  quote  from  a  prophecy  made  by  the  writer 
in  an  address  delivered  before  the  Trans-Mississippi  Commercial  Congress,  as 
follows : 

"Without  unwarranted  enthusiasm,  let  me  point  out  to  you  my  confident 
belief  that  the  next  ten  years  will  be  a  Latin  American  decade — that  all  the  world 
will  be  then  studying  and  watching  Latin  America  as  it  now  does  Japan  and  the 
Orient,  and  that  a  material,  economic,  intellectual  and  political  advancement  will  be 
witnessed  in  Latin  America  which  will  rival  what  has  been  accomplished  in  the 
United  States.  Were  it  not  for  the  lamentable  ignorance  which  prevails  throughout 
the  United  States  in  regard  to  the  peoples,  institutions,  resources  and  governments 
of  this  section  of  America,  this  statement  would  not  seem  in  the  least  surprising. 
Those  of  us  who  have  traveled  from  Cuba  to  Chile  and  from  Brazil  to  Bolivia  are 
keenly  aware  that  this  great  onward  movement  has  already  begun  and  that  Latin 

257 


America  has  entered  upon  a  new  era  of  splendid  activity  and  world-wide  influence. 
"Twenty  republics,  varying  in  size  from  the  area  of  Brazil,  which  is  larger 
than  that  of  the  United  States  proper,  to  Salvador,  the  smallest,  which  would  take 
in  Rhode  Island  six  times  over,  having  a  combined  population  of  nearly  seventy 
millions  and  a  foreign  commerce  valued  at  more  than  two  billions  of  dollars  per 
annum,  are  going  ahead  so  rapidly  that  no  man  can  safely  prophesy  the  limit  of 
what  they  will  accomplish  during  the  next  ten  years.  Gifted  with  a  variety  of  cli- 
mates and  of  resources,  blessed  with  a  marvelous  intermingling  of  cool  plateaus  and 
tropical  lowlands,  provided  with  vast  navigable  river  systems  and  a  long  extent  of 
accessible  coast  line,  supplying  numerous  important  products  which  the  rest  of  the 
world  must  purchase,  and  possessing  a  people  of  deep  sympathies  and  high  intellectu- 
ality based  on  an  old  and  worthy  civilization,  they  all  challenge  our  best  study  and 
keenest  appreciation." 


258 


Owing  to  the  large  attendance  of  experts  and  authorities  on  Latin 
America,  and  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  interest  aroused  by  the  different 
papers  led  to  prolonged  discussions,  the  time  originally  allotted  to  some 
speakers  was  thus  unavoidably  consumed.  Certain  gentlemen,  therefore, 
were  deprived  of  the  opportunity  of  delivering  their  addresses  in  person. 
These  papers  are  published  herewith,  because  of  their  importance  and 
interest.  The  Director  General  regrets  that  lack  of  time  prevented  the 
authors  from  delivering  the  addresses  before  the  assembled  delegates. 

PAPER  OF  THE  DOMINICAN  MINISTER, 
MR.  EMILIO  C.  JOUBERT 

The  Dominican  Republic  lacks  many  of  the  elements  which  contribute  to  the 
economic  development  of  nations,  especially  those  elements  which  are  essential  to 
commercial  importance  and  which  foster  all  kinds  of  industries,  such  as  banking 
institutions,  etc.,  but  in  spite  of  this  drawback,  the  country  has  progressed  sufficiently 
to  fill  with  hope  the  hearts  of  those  who  earnestly  desire  its  development  and  welfare. 
The  climatic  and  geographic  condi'tions  of  the  Dominican  Republic  are  quite 
favorable  to  the  agricultural  industry  in  which  the  natives  of  the  Republic  preferably 
engage.  Therefore,  it  is  evident  that  the  principal  products  are  agricultural  and 
represent  both  the  fertility  of  the  soil  and  the  diligence  of  its  inhabitants. 

The  cultivated  area  increases  daily,  the  quality  of  the  products  is  improved,  and 
the  crops  are  more  abundant.  For  instance,  the  development  of  the  cultivation  of 
cacao  is  sufficient  to  justify  the  prediction  of  a  prosperous  future  for  the  Republic. 

Scarcely  twe'nty  years  ago  cacao  was  cultivated  on  a  very  small  scale,  and  the 
production  was  quite  insignificant.  It  may  be  truthfully  said  that  the  cacao  bean  con- 
sumed in  the  country  and  the  small  quantity  exported  was  gathered  from  wild  trees. 
The  first  exports  of  said  product  of  which  there  is  a  record,  made  in  1891, 
amounted  to  1000  tons.  In  1902  the  exports  of  this  product  rose  to  12,873  tons.  Other 
years  it  wras : 

EXPORTS  OF  CACAO. 
Year.  Pounds. 

1905 28,836,364 

1906 32,022,460 

1907 21,925,641 

1908 41,855,721 

1909 32,659,781 

The  increase  in  the  production  of  sugar  is  also  exceedingly  satisfactory. 

EXPORT  OF  SUGAR. 

Year.  Pounds. 

1883 17,000,000 

iQO.S 105,972,400 

1906 120,701,271 

T907 123,753,626 

1908 140,650,554 

1909 170,358,482 

For  a  population  of  about  600,000,  the  estimated  population  of  the  Dominican 
Republic,  the  foreign  trade  shown  by  the  following  figures  is  not  lacking  in  im- 
portance, it  being,  above  all,  a  practical  and  eloquent  proof  of  the  progressive  spirit 
which  characterizes  said  people. 

Value  of  imports.  Value  of  exports. 

1905 $2,736,828  1905 $6,896,097 

1906 4,065,437  1006 6,543,872 

1907 5,088,611  1907 7,958,855 

!9o8 5,295,271  1908 9,713,135 

T909 4.563.993  1909 8,625,017 

1910 6,408,838  .1910 10,924,371 

259 


The  year  1909  shows  a  remarkable  decrease  both  in  the  imports  and  exports. 
The  direct  cause  of  the  decrease  in  exports  and  the  indirect  cause  of  the  diminution 
in  imports  was  the  poor  crops  and  the  loss  of  more  than  40,000  kilos  of  cacao,  due 
to  excessive  rains  and  to  a  disease  of  the  cacao  plant  ^  but  the  following  year  the 
loss  was  made  up,  and  the  production  has  continued  to  increase  to  such  a  degree  as 
to  gratify  the  most  flattering  hopes.  

In  some  districts  the  Government  has  lands  adapted  to  the  cultivation  of  cacao, 
which  can  be  cultivated  under  the  law  of  June  5,  1905,  published  in_No.  1598  of  the 
"Gaccta  Oficial."  In  accordance  with  this  law,  permission  may  be  given  to  colonists 
f&r  cultivating  Government  lands,  upon  deposit  of  a  sum  as  security ;  this  money  is 
returned  to  the  colonist  gradually  as  the  cultivation  of  the  land  proceeds  At  the 
expiration  of  ten  years,  which  is  the  term  of  the  grant,  the  colonist  must  pay  an 
annual  rent  of  10  cents  per  hectare.  The  deposit  referred  to  is  of  $2.00  per  hectare. 
At  the  end  of  ten  years  the  whole  area  of  the  land  must  be  cultivated. 

Public  lands  in  the  Dominican  Republic  can  not  be  sold  without  authority  of 
Congress. 

There  are  also  uncultivated  private  lands,  which  are  adapted  to  the  cultivation 
of  cacao,  which  can  be  bought  at  prices  that  vary  according  to  the  proximity  of  the 
lands  to  cities,  roads,  etc.  One  can  purchase  at  very  low  rates  uncultivated  cacao 
lands,  which,  although  distant  from  centres  of  population,  are  easily  reached.  For 
instance,  186.33  acres  of  such  lands  might  be  bought  for  $100. 

Lands  suited  to  cacao  cultivation  are  found  in  the  Eastern  portion  of  Seybo 
Province,  the  southern  part  of  Samana  Province  (Sahana  de  la  Mar  and  Valle 
zones),  the  Yuma  and  Camu  Valleys,  near  Cotuy;  Bonao  and  La  Vega,  and  specially 
the  provinces  of  Pacificador  (South  and  West),  Espaillat,  Santiago  (North  and 
West)  and  several  zones  of  the  Province  of  Puerto  Plata.  There  is  also  a  small 
zone  in  the  Province  of  Azua  (Hondo  Valley  El  Cercado).  But,  without  question, 
La  Vega,  Moca  and  San  Francisco  de  Macoris  form  the  triangle  within  and  around 
which  are  located  the  best  cacao  lands  in  the  Dominican  Republic,  specially  near 
Salcedo. 

By  virtue  of  the  law  of  June  22,  1907,  notaries  public  are  refrained  from 
legalizing  sales  of  municipal  lands  unless  the  parcels  have  been  previously  measured 
by  a  surveyor. 

Land  sales  are  executed  before  a  notary  of  the  Republic,  or  in  default  thereof, 
a  mayor  (alcalde)  qualified  as  notary  public;  afterwards,  they  are  recorded  in  the 
office  of  the  Register  of  Deeds  of  the  Province,  and  thus  all  legal  formalities  have 
been  fulfilled. 

The  population  of  the  Republic  actually  increases  with  opportunities  for  work, 
although  a  current  of  immigration  has  not  yet  begun  to  flow  into  the  country,  because 
of  a  lack,  perhaps,  of  a  knowledge  abroad  of  the  exceptional  advantages  that  the 
country  offers  to  whoever  looks  for  opportunities  to  better  his  condition  Railroads 
have  been  constructed  and  highways  improved  with  the  greatest  advantage  for  the 
development  of  the  public  wealth.  The  ports,  which  have  been  exploited  for  the 
benefit  of  private  persons,  have  been  redeemed  by  the  Government  for  the  relief  of 
commerce,  and  work  is  being  actually  carried  on  to  make  them  suitable  to  the  grow- 
ing needs  of  trade. 

In  the  municipalities  signs  are  easily  perceived  of  an  evolution  that  is  actually 
transforming  urban  life  in  the  most  gratifying  and  satisfactory  manner.  The  streets 
are  being  paved  to  insure  better  hygienic  conditions,  and  to  the  same  end  costly 
acqueducts  are  being  constructed ;  public  ornamentation  receives  due  attention  and  the 
signs  of  progress  are  noted  on  all  hands. 

Our  greatest  commerce  is  with  the  United  States.  In  1909  fifty-seven  per 
cent,  of  our  imports  were  of  American  origin,  and  to  this  country  we  sent  fifty-nine 
per  cent,  of  our  products.  The  increase  of  the  business  that  we  transact  with  the 
United  States  keeps  pace  with  the  growing  volume  of  our  foreign  trade.  Never- 
theless, this  result  is  due  largely  to  the  friendly  relations  that  exist  between  the  two 
peoples. 

Mr.  Root's  remarks  that  peoples  are  inclined  to  deal  with  their  friends  is 
proven  in  the  case  of  the  commercial  relations  between  the  Dominican  Republic  and 
the  United  States.  During  a  long  time  in  which,  because  the  two  peoples  knew  each 
other  but  slightly,  the  Republic  was  the  victim  of  unreasonable  and  unjust  attacks  on 
the  part  of  persons  interested  in  bringing  about  its  discredit,  little  trade  was  carried 
on  with  this  country,  and  only  because  of  unavoidable  necessity,  inasmuch  as  its 

260 


geographic  proximity  and  certain  facilities  of  communication  rendered  it  inevitable. 
And  it  may  be  truthfully  said  that  even  then  it  was  to  a  few  commission  merchants  in 
New  York  who  had  lived  in  Santo  Domingo  or  who,  because  of  their  connection  with 
Europe,  happened  to  know  the  commendable  qualities  of  the  Dominicans  in  general, 
and  particularly  of  the  merchants,  that  the  fact  that  trade  had  been  maintained — 
although  in  a  languishing  manner — between  the  two  countries  is  really  due. 

I  have  referred  to  the  good  qualities  of  the  Dominicans,  and  I  must  say  that 
this  assertion  must  not  be  constructed  as  a  presumption  of  patriotism  on  my  part 
Below  will  be  found  the  testimony  of  a  traveler  whose  impartiality  is  beyond  sus- 
picion : 

"They  are  a  frank,  outspoken  and  open-hearted  people,  and  are  captivated  with 
those  virtues  in  strangers.  To  attempt  in  any  manner  to  deceive  or  circumvent  them 
meets  with  their  unqualified  and  universal  condemnation.  A  belief  extensively  pre- 
vails that  they  are  individually  and  nationally  jealous  and  suspicious  of  strangers,  that 
they  are  full  of  duplicity  and  deceit,  and  that  all  intercourse  and  negotiations  with 
them,  to  succeed,  have  to  be  carried  on  by  means  of  a  subtle,  overreaching  or  covert 
diplomacy.  That  they  must  be  taken  off  their  guard  and  deceived  and  misled  into 
measures  before  they  will  accord.  But  it  is  a  gross  libel  upon  their  individual 
and  national  names.  They  like  nothing  better  than  frankness  and  open  and  fair- 
dealing." 

Fortunately,  with  the  bonds  of  amity  already  established,  and  thanks  also  to 
the  mutual  confidence,  respect  and  consideration  which  commerce  has  engendered, 
a  situation  exists,  both  here  and  in  Santo  Domingo,  that  bespeaks  the  most  stable  and 
beneficial  commercial  relations. 


PAPER  OF  DOCTOR  RAMON  BENGOECHEA, 
CHARGE  D'AFFAIRES  OF  GUATEMALA 

This  gathering  embodies  the  fundemental  principle  of  Pan  Americanism,  a 
principle  without  which  it  would  be  difficult  to  establish  closer  relations  among  the 
countries  of  this  continent:  The  interchange  of  products  among  all  our  Republics, 
for  the  equal  and  mutual  benefit  of  all.  And,  undoubtedly,  we  can  not  overestimate 
the  good  results  of  which  these  deliberations  will  be  productive,  giving  a  new  and 
forceful  impetus  to  the  commercial  currents  to  and  from  Latin  America  and  the 
United  States. 

As  the  representative  of  one  of  the  countries  of  the  International  Union  I  can 
not  but  feel  extremely  gratified  at  seeing  that  the  efforts  of  the  Director  General  of 
the  Pan  American  Union  in  organizing  this  conference  have  been  compensated  to  a 
degree  beyond  our  expectations,  for  not  only  is  the  attendance  a  numerous  one,  but 
it  is  also  made  up  of  a  select  body  of  men  representing  the  most  important  manu- 
facturing and  business  interests  of  this  powerful  nation,  one  of  the  foremost  stan- 
dard-bearers of  civilization,  progress  and  enterprise.  v --  -.,- 

Guatemala,  on  account  of  its  proximity,  is  an  exceptionally  splendid  market 
for  American  products.  And,  certainly,  if  the  manufacturers  of  this  country  are  to 
continue  cultivating  that  market,  in  a  comparatively  short  time,  practically  everything 
sold  in  Guatemala  would  bear  the  "Made  in  America"  stamp,  because  American 
articles  as  a  rule  are  considered  by  Guatemalans  to  be  the  best,  as  they  show  it  by 
their  marked  preference  therefor.  In  a  word,  gentlemen,  the  conditions  of  our 
market  could  not  be  more  favorable  to  you.  But,  of  course,  you  must  work  the  field 
properly  by  sending  the  right  kind  of  agents — men  who  speak  our  language  and  who 
can  adapt  themselves  to  our  customs  and  manners  ;  by  packing  your  merchandise 
properly ;  by  granting  longer  credits.  This  is  a  point  which  can  not  be  emphasized 
too  much.  As  a  United  States  consular  officer  stated  in  a  report,  "the  American 
manufacturers  should  become  better  acquainted  with  the  Guatemalan  trade,  ascer- 
tain who  are  worthy  of  credit  and  extend  it.  The  long  voyage  and  delay  en  route 
compel  the  importer  to  ask  long  credits.  It  is  sometimes  two  or  three  months  after 
shipments  destined  for  Guatemala  city  leave  the  manufacturer  before  they  can  be 
displayed  in  the  store  of  the  importer." 

In  exchange  for  your  goods  we  can  offer  you,  in  the  first  place,  coffee,  the 
bulk  of  which  crop  now  goes  to  Germany,  and  whose  fame  is  well  known  throughout 
the  world,  commanding  the  highest  prices ;  sugar,  cacao,  bananas,  woods,  rubber,  and 
kindred  products,  all  of  which  are  second  to  none  in  point  of  quality;  and  gold, 
silver,  copper,  mercury,  tin  and  other  minerals. 

261 


For  the  transportation  of  your  manufactures  and  of  our  products,  Guatemala 
is  well  supplied  with  shipping  facilities  on  the  Atlantic  as  well  as  on  the  Pacific  coast, 
several  of  the  steamship  lines  being  subsidized  by  our  Government.  There  are 
besides  a  great  number  of  coastwise  vessels,  which  also  carry  passengers  and  freight. 
The  administration  policy  towards  navigation  lines  is  very  liberal,  and  no  effort  is 
spared  in  securing  additional  facilities  which  may  establish  a  more  rapid  and  fre- 
quent communication  between  Guatemalan  and  American  ports. 

Aside  from  the  great  field  that  there  is  in  Guatemala  for  the  manufactured 
products  of  the  United  States,  which  have  now  attained  the  first  place  in  our  import 
.trade,  there  is  still  a  much  broader  field,  I  might  say  a  field  unbounded,  for  the  in- 
vestment of  American  capital. 

Guatemala  is  a  privileged  country  where  the  hand  of  the  Creator  has  be- 
stowed in  quantities  unsurpassed  the  best  that  Nature  can  give.  Our  forests  contain 
all  kinds  of  precious  woods ;  our  territory  is  spotted  with  all  variety  of  mineral  de- 
posits, and,  on  the  other  hand,  its  fertility  is  remarkable,  being  suited  not  only  to  the 
cultivation  of  tropical  products  but  also  to  those  of  the  temperate  zone.  All  this 
surrounded  by  a  picturesque  and  luxuriant  scenery,  and  under  a  benign  and  healthy 
climate.  Starting  from  the  coastlands  and  ascending  to  the  high  plains  the  traveler 
beholds  in  succession  the  exuberant  vegetation  of  the  tropics  and  the  placid  scenery 
of  the  temperate  countries.  And  yet,  practically  all  this  immense  wealth  remains 
unexploited,  awaiting  the  magic  touch  of  American  capital  and  enterprise  to  awaken 
it  from  its  secular  lethargy  and  pour  out  its  incalculable  blessings. 

Immigration,  the  one  great  need  of  most  Latin  American  countries,  is  encour- 
aged by  the  Government,  under  a  liberal  law  which  offers  the  white  immigrant  every 
inducement  that  may  be  reasonably  given.  By  a  provision  of  the  law,  the  Executive 
is  authorized  to  deed  to  immigrants,  free  of  any  charge,  tracts  of  public  land  provided 
that  they  cultivate  in  two  years  one  third  of  the  land  thus  granted. 

Present  conditions  in  Guatemala  are  such  as  to  render  safe  the  investment  of 
foreign  capital  in  the  country. 

Under  the  wise  administration  of  President  Estrada  Cabrera,  the  Republic 
has  improved  materially,  economically  and  politically,  and  the  stability  thereby  se- 
cured gives  assurance  of  further  progress  under  continuous  peace  and  order.  The 
finances  of  the  country  are  now  established  upon  a  sound  basis,  and  our  national 
credit  abroad  has  at  last  been  re-habilitated.  The  means  of  communication  are  being 
developed  with  unceasing  activity.  Education  is  promoted  and  engages  the  best  at- 
tention of  our  President.  And,  above  all,  the  present  Government  is  over-zealous  in 
meeting  its  obligations  promptly  and  fully. 

Gentlemen,  our  doors  are  wide  open  to  you.  Lend  us  your  co-operation  in  de- 
veloping our  resources,  and  in  doing  so  you  will  reap  manifold  profits. 

PAPER  OF  MR.  MACK  H.  DAVIS,  BUREAU  OF  TRADE 
RELATIONS,  STATE  DEPARTMENT 

The  markets  of  the  United  States  for  products  of  South  and  Central  America 
are  practically  unrestricted  by  duties  levied  by  this  country.  The  United  States,  one 
of  the  most  highly  protected  of  all  countries,  offers  the  freest  of  all  markets,  with 
respect  to  duties,  for  such  commodities  as  nearly  all  of  the  Central  and  South  Ameri- 
can states  have  to  offer. 

Of  the  more  than  $208,000,000  worth  of  South  and  Central  American  products 
imported  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30th,  1910,  91.3  per  cent,  entered  the  ports 
of  the  United  States  without  one  cent  of  duty.  Taking  a  few  representative  coun- 
tries as  examples,  it  appears  that  of  Brazil's  $100,000,000  worth  of  annual  exports  to 
the  United  States,  99.5  per  cent,  pay  no  duty  into  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States. 
Chile's  exports  to  this  country,  nearly  $14,000,000  annually,  are  all  free  except  I  per 
cent  Colombia  sends  us  $7,000,000  in  value  annually,  of  which  we  admit  95.5  per 
cent.  free.  Our  annual  imports  from  Guatemala  are  considerably  over  $3,000,000, 
and  98.9  per  cent,  are  free.  The  sales  of  Honduras  to  the  United  States,  which  total 
over  $2,000,000  yearly,  are  free  of  duty  to  the  extent  of  99.85  per  cent,  of  their  value. 

If  the  South  and  Central  American  countries  were  to  export  to  Europe  equal 
amounts  of  the  same  goods  as  they  send  to  the  United  States,  the  charges  levied 
upon  this  commerce  would  approximate  two  hundred  millions  of  dollars  every  year. 

The  import  duties  of  Germany  are  such  that,  upon  like  volume  and  value  as 
characterized  Brazil's  exports  to  the  United  States  for  the  year  1910,  there  would 

262 


have  been  charged  nearly  $50,000,000,  or  an  average  rate  of  more  than  46  per  cent, 
ad  valorem.  The  duties  collected  on  an  equal  amount  of  coffee  alone  would  have 
amounted  to  over  $45,000,000,  or  nearly  90  per  cent,  ad  valorem.  France,  at  her 
minimum  rates  of  duty,  would  have  charged  Brazil  nearly  $90,000,000,  or  an  average 
rate  of  83  1-3  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  had  Brazil  exported  to  France  the  same  articles 
she  sent  to  the  United  States  in  1910.  The  single  item  of  coffee  would  have  borne  a 
tax  in  France  of  $83,426,000,  or  nearly  160  per  cent,  of  its  value. 

Germany  would  tax  the  articles  now  imported  into  the  United  States  from 
Guatemala,  were  they  to  be  sent  to  Germany,  to  the  extent  of  $1,800,000  per  year,  or 
nearly  100  per  cent,  of  their  value.  The  French  minimum  rates  on  these  same 
articles  would  exceed  $3,000,000,  or  172  per  cent,  of  their  worth. 

While  the  United  States  collects  about  $100,000  in  duties  on  goods  imported 
from  Colombia,  which  is  an  average  ad  valorem  rate  of  about  1.34  per  cent.,  the  same 
goods,  if  imported  into  Germany,  would  have  to  pay  about  $3,950,000  in  customs 
duties,  or  about  53  per  cent,  ad  valorem.  In  France  they  would  have  to  pay  in 
excess  of  $7,400,000,  or  practically  100  per  cent,  of  their  value. 

If  a  question  of  reciprocity  were  raised,  as  between  the  United  States  and 
South  and  Central  American  states,  our  Treasury  records  would  show  that  the 
embargo  upon  Latin  American  enterprise,  appearing  in  the  shape  of  United  States 
duties,  is  so  slight  as  to  be  unworthly  of  consideration. 

It  may  be  thought  that  the  United  States  is  already  absorbing,  under  favorable 
conditions  of  admission,  as  much  of  the  produce  of  South  and  Central  America  as 
can  be  disposed  of,  but  this  is  not  likely  to  prove  true  in  light  of  the  knowledge  that 
we  are  large  buyers  of  European  products,  the  raw  material  of  which  originates  in 
Latin  American  countries. 

The  tonnage  of  Brazil's  exports  to  the  United  States,  in  1910,  was  475,000, 
while  to  all  the  world  Brazil  exported  approximately  1,440,000  tons.  Analyze  the 
question  of  tonnage  and  you  approach  an  answer  to  the  problem  of  transportation, 
the  facilities  for  which,  to.  the  ports  of  the  United  States,  have  been,  for  years,  the 
subject  of  remark  and  much  adverse  criticism.  In  the  case  of  Brazil — mentioned 
only  as  an  example,  for  the  conditions  that  prevail  in  Brazil  characterize  nearly 
every  South  and  Central  American  country  with  respect  to  the  trade  relation  with 
the  United  States — the  total  imports  approximate  annually  3,300,000  tons,  but  of  this 
volume  only  about  150,000  tons,  all  told,  goes  from  the  United  States.  We  only 
send  about  75,000  tons  of  all  commodities  per  annum  to  Chile,  30,000  tons  to  Colom- 
bia, and  25,000  tons  each  annually  to  Guatemala  and  Honduras.  The  total  tonnage 
from  the  United  States  to  South  and  Central  American  states  approximates  slightly 
more  than  800,000  tons  per  annum,  which  is  probably  not  one-tenth  of  their  entire 
imports,  and  it  is  only  one-half  of  the  tonnage  of  imports  into  the  United  States 
from  these  same  countries.  How  can  we  expect,  under  such  circumstances  relating 
to  the  flow  of  freight,  to  find  steamship  lines  prepared  to  compete  with  the  ten 
times  greater  volume  going  into  Latin  America,  established  by  the  enterprise  of 
merchants  of  other  lands  ?  The  shipping  facilities  to  and  from  our  shores  and  from 
and  to  the  ports  of  South  America  cannot,  in  practice,  be  increased  until  business 
offers  which  will  make  increased  facilities  profitable.  We  take  from  Brazil  475,000 
tons  per  annum,  and  we  send  her  150,000  tons.  We  take  from  Chile  375,000  tons, 
and  we  send  her  75,000  tons.  We  take  from  Honduras  220,000  tons,  and  we  send 
her  25,000  tons.  These  figures  approximately  represent  yearly  business.  They  mean 
heavily  loaded  ships  one  way  and  light-loaded  ships  the  other. 

To  increase  your  shipping  facilities  you  must  either  increase  the  tonnage  or 
you  must  pay  somebody  high  rates  or  subsidies  to  make  the  business  attractive.  If 
the  traffic  must  stand  high  rates  of  freight,  it  will  be  slow  to  develop.  It  will  lodge 
with  those  countries  where  conditions  are  more  favorable.  The  absence  of  duties 
in  the  United  States,  upon  products  of  South  and  Central  America,  does  not,  and 
never  will,  from  a  shipping  standpoint,  overcome  the  absence  of  actual  transactions. 
It  is  the  actual  business  passing  which  is  responsible  for  the  better  shipping  facilities 
enjoyed  by  markets  other  than  our  own.  We  have  not  nearly  done  our  full  share 
when  we  make  our  ports  practically  free  of  import  charges  upon  South  and  Central 
American  products.  The  next  step  is  one  for  which  public  sentiment  in  this  country 
alone  must  be  accountable.  The  present  fiscal  policy  of  the  United  States  has  doubt- 
less gone  as  far  as  it  can  to  clear  the  way.  Public  sentiment,  if  animated  and  cen- 
tralized and  made  effective,  can  bring  about  the  insurance  necessary  to  create  in- 
creased facilities  for  shipping,  and  the  only  practical  insurance  must  take  the  form 
of  subsidies. 

263 


But  public  sentiment  must  go  further  than  to  press  for  subsidies  for  shipping. 
It  must  stir  into  activity  the  commercial  forces  that  will  lead  American  merchants 
and  manufacturers  to  expand  their  enterprise,  as  our  European  competitors  have 
done,  to  the  building  up  of  the  demand  in  South  and  Central  America  for  such  com- 
modities as  we  in  the  United  States  can  more  readily  furnish  than  can  be  supplied 
by  any  other  people.  This  cannot  be  done  by  salesmen  and  samples  alone,  but  it 
can  be  done  if,  in  South  and  Central  America,  pur  people  will  bring  to  bear  the  same 
intelligent  methods  of  representation  and  distribution  which  they  employ  in  our  own 
country.  They  must  establish  branches  and  representative  houses  with  many  con- 
nections in  and  throughout  South  and  Central  America.  They  must  carry  in  these 
branches  stocks  and  full  lines  of  suitable  products,  and  they  must  conduct  their  bus- 
iness in  the  language  of  the  people  with  whom  they  are  to  deal.  They  must  seek  the 
South  and  Central  American  demand  at  first  hands  through  their  own  independent 
methods  and  facilities,  and  these  must  be  built  up  with  evident  regard  for  the  pe- 
culiarities of  their  prospective  buyers.  Such  methods  and  such  permanent  branch 
establishments  in  South  and  Central  America  will  develop  both  the  imports  and 
exports  of  the  United  States  with  respect  to  Latin  American  trade;  and  with  this 
expansion  will  naturally  come  the  establishment  of  banking  facilities  that  always 
seek  the  profits  possible  in  the  financial  interchanges  of  permanently  developed  bus- 
iness. 

The  question  of  banking  and  exchange  is  a  practical  one  and  it  is  interwoven 
with  and  dependent  upon  commerce,  and  upon  nothing  else.  To  encourage  the 
establishment  of  American  banking  facilities  in  South  and  Central  America,  business 
which  naturally  flows  to  and  from  the  United  States  must  be  put  in  motion.  This 
business  must  be  in  far  greater  volume  than  exists  at  present.  Thus,  we  have  a 
complicated  problem  of  how,  coincidently,  to  accomplish  a  large  and  profitable  volume 
of  commercial  transactions,  with  American  banking  facilities  to  meet  the  need  and 
with  American  steamship  lines  to  facilitate  the  transport.  I  speak  of  these  three 
features  as  corelated,  because  to  foster  any  one  is  to  foster  the  other  two.  Thus 
we  are  brought  to  the  conclusion,  apparent  to  all  who  have  given  thoughtful  con- 
sideration to  this  one  of  the  most  important  commercial  questions'  of  the  age,  that 
expansion  of  the  trade  of  the  United  States  into  South  and  Central  America  depends 
upon  better  commercial  practice  on  our  part ;  upon  better  and  more  direct  banking 
facilities ;  and  these,  in  turn,  are  almost  wholly  dependent  upon  lower  rates  of 
freight  and  more  frequent  ships.  Whatever  form  of  governmental  aid,  in  the  way  of 
subsidies  for  ships,  that  will  guarantee  low  rates  of  freight  both  to  and  from  the 
ports  of  the  United  States  and  establish  sailings  frequent  enough  to  be  attractive 
will  prove  to  be  a  potent  factor  in  the  solution  of  the  problem. 

Since  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  cannot  have  in  view,  in  this  entire 
question  of  trade  expansion  with  our  southern  neighbors,  any  commercial  object  that 
will  not  prove  equally  advantageous  to  the  citizens  of  South  and  Central  American 
countries,  it  seems  to  me  that  there  devolves  upon  those  countries  a  large  measure  of 
co-operation.  Such  co-operation  would  be  most  helpful  in  the  way  of  modifications 
of  tariff  rates  upon  certain  heavy-weight  commodities  which  the  United  States  can 
most  readily  supply  and  which,  from  their  nature,  are  least  competitive  with  Latin 
American  products.  These  commodities,  in  the  main,  are  coal,  flour,  and  the  manu- 
factures of  iron  and  steel.  Such  commodities  are  the  best  basis  for  a  steam- 
ship cargo.  Their  weight  affords  the  necessary  ballast,  without  which  low 
rates  can  never  be  made  upon  higher-class  freight.  Wherever  the  duty  rates 
upon  such  commodities  are  high  (in  some  cases  almost  to  the  point  of  exclusion), 
the  outbound  traffic  from  the  United  States  must  continue  small  and  the  freight  rates 
must  remain  relatively  high.  With  the  way  opened  for  greater  sales  of  our  flour,  our 
coal,  and  our  manufactures  of  heavy-weight  goods,  the  incentive  is  then  placed  before 
steamship  interests  which  they  must  have  as  a  condition  precedent  for  more  ships 
and  frequent  sailings.  It  is  along  the  line  of  this  suggestion  that  the  organization 
of  the  Pan  American  Union,  which  has  been  so  useful  in  the  cultivation  of  friendly 
relations  among  peoples  naturally  drawn  together  by  reason  of  their  geographic  lo- 
cation, can  further  demonstrate  its  practical  value  to  the  commercial  interests  of  the 
Western  Hemisphere  by  working  out  and  developing  this  and  other  lines  leading  to 
least  resistance  along  which  trade  is  bound  to  flow.  The  basic  conditions  are  all 
present,  in  the  possible  trade  relations  between  the  United  States  and  its  Southern 
neighbors,  for  the  consummation  of  the  greatest  trade  pact  that  the  world  has  ever 
seen  if  we  on  our  part,  and  they  on  theirs,  will  so  co-operate  as  to  overcome  the 
points  of  resistance  herein  referred  to,  each  in  its  own  way,  but  all  bent  toward 
practical  means  for  removing  obstacles  recognized  by  all. 

264 


PAPER  OF  MR.  M.  DE  MOREIRA,  EDITOR  OF  FOREIGN 

TRADE,  ON  TRADE  EXCHANGE  BETWEEN 

BRAZIL  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Before  taking  up  the  question  assigned  for  discussion  in  this  paper,  the  writer 
would  pay  a  very  sincere  tribute  to  the  work  of  the  Pan  American  Union.  After 
all  has  been  said  and  done,  the  future  of  the  trade  relations  between  the  United 
States  and  South  America  may  be  summed  up  in  the  words :  mutual  understanding 
and  sympathy.  Unless  these  two  peoples  of  the  West  know  each  other — know  the 
wants,  the  resources,  the  languages,  the  customs,  one  of  the  other—no  lasting 
alliance,  nothing  stronger  than  a  fragile  trade  bond,  can  be  formed.  Once  there 
is  a  real  understanding,  sympathy  will  spring  of  it  spontaneously  and  permanently. 

It  is  because  the  Pan  American  Union  is  devoted  to  the*  realization  of  this 
mutual  understanding  that  its  work  is  so  splendid ;  and  it  is  surely  fitting  to  recall 
the  advances  made,  the  obstacles  removed,  the  friendships  formed  during  many 
years  of  useful  work ;  and  to  express  the  hope  that  this  Bureau — so  valuable  to  the 
commerce  of  each  country,  may  have  for  many  years  to  come  the  devoted  and  far- 
seeing  guidance  of  its  Director  General,  Mr.  John  Barrett. 

In  the  study  of  commerce  between  two  countries,  the  thing  of  most  vital 
importance  is  means  of  communication.  The  favorable  geographical  position  of 
Brazil  in  the  center  of  South  America  places  it  in  touch  with  all  the  Republics  of 
South  America — except  Chile— and  makes  it  really  accessible  from  the  United  States, 
Europe,  and  even  Africa.  With  a  coast  line  on  the  Atlantic  Ocean  of  five  thousand 
miles,  Brazil  possesses  a  number  of  ports  to  which  steamers  from  the  various 
countries  sail  regularly. 

One  of  the  means  for  Americans  to  ship  their  merchandise  to  Brazil  is 
through  the  Lloyd-Braziliero  Company.  In  December  a  year  ago  Brazil  entered 
into  a  new  contract  with  this  company,  extending  its  concessions  for  six  years.  By 
the  terms  of  the  revised  contract  the  company  promised  to  make  a  reduction  of  20 
per  cent,  on  the  present  freight  rates,  and  of  40  per  cent,  on  Brazilian  products 
when  exported  from  the  ports  of  the  State  in  which  they  were  produced.  The 
extension  of  this  line  to  New  York,  which  took  place  in  1907,  gave  the  American 
shippers  the  advantage  of  an  independent  service. 

In  point  of  mail  service,  however,  much  is  to  be  desired,  and  it  is  urgent  that 
the  United  States  improve  its  connections  between  New  York  and  the  various  ports 
on  the  east  coast  of  South  America,  otherwise  it  will  be  impossible  to  keep  up 
successful  competition  with  European  commerce. 

Not  discussing  for  a  moment  the  question  of  "subsidy,"  but  looking  at  the 
situation  in  its  most  practical  light,  it  is  just  as  necessary  commercially  for  the 
United  States  to  take  steps  to  have  the  best  mail  facilities  between  its  principal 
ports  and  those  of  the  east  coast  of  South  America  as  it  is  to  have  them  with  the 
ports  of  Europe  or  with  the  principal  cities  within  the  confines  of  the  United  States. 

There  has  been  a  great  improvement  of  the  steamship  facilities  out  of  New 
York.  Companies  owning  or  leasing  steamers  flying  foreign  flags  have  done  a 
great  deal  for  the  betterment  of  crude  conditions,  and  it  is  regrettable  that  there  is 
a  tendency  among  many  to  think  of  the  conditions  that  prevailed  a  few  years  ago, 
and  not  to  give  these  companies  credit  for  the  advances  they  have  made  in  the 
service  they  are  rendering.  The  Lamport  &  Holt  Company,  for  instance,  flying  the 
English  flag  and  sailing  from  New  York,  have  put  on  several  new  steamers  running 
to  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Montevidio  and  Buenos  Aires — which  are  comfortable  enough 
for  the  most  particular  passenger.  The  passenger  service  is  bi-monthly,  and  at 
intervals  they  have  freighters  leaving  New  York  which  stop  at  the  various  Brazilian 
ports. 

It  is  pertinent  here  to  point  out  a  fallacy  existing  in  the  minds  of  some  Ameri- 
can manufacturers  to  the  effect  that  when  they  are  shipping  goods  to  Brazil  they 
have  to  do  it  via  England.  Nothing  could  be  farther  from  the  truth. 

This  introductory  discussion,  showing  us  that  goods  can  be  easily  shipped  to 
Brazil  leads  naturally  to  the  consideration  of  the  advantages  that  will  come  to  the 
manufacturers  and  merchants  of  the  United  States  from  a  careful  study  of  the 
existing  conditions,  not  only  with  regard  to  what  they  can  sell  to  Brazil,  but  also 
as  to  what  they  can  buy  from  Brazil. 

Today  90  per  cent,  of  the  business  interests  of  the  United  States — which  are 
looking  to  Brazil  as  a  field  of  commerce — are  thinking  of  it  only  as  a  field  for  their 

265 


exports.  In  that  way  the  impression  is  given  that  the  United  States  is  considering 
only  what  it  can  sell  without  trying  at  the  same  time  to  provide  a  market  for  the 
products  of  Brazil,  and  so  benefit  not  only  the  United  States,  but  Brazil  as  well. 

That  one  side  of  the  question  is  as  important  to.  the  American  merchant  as 
the  other  is  shown  rather  plainly,  we  think,  by  the  following  figures. 

The  official  statistics  covering  the  imports  and  exports  from  the  first  of 
January,  1910,  to  August  of  the  same  year,  as  compared  with  corresponding  months 
of  the  previous  year,  show  consistent  increases — the  imports  of  merchandise  being 
$142,547,344,  or  an  increase  of  $28,748,923,  while  the  exports,  which  were  $118,740,424, 
show  an  increase  of  $18,403,331. 

What  to  export  to  Brazil  is  a  question  which  can  be  answered  profitably  only 
after  taking  into  account  several  conditions.  Generally  speaking,  one  may  say  that 
since  Brazil  does  not  manufacture  enough  of  certain  products  for  the  needs  of  its 
people,  manufactured  goods  will  find  a  ready  market  there — providing,  of  course, 
the  manufacturer  uses  judgment  in  regard  to  climatic  as  well  as  geographical 
conditions. 

To  illustrate  this  point,  let  me  call  the  attention  of  the  Pan  American  Com- 
mercial Conference  to  the  fact  that  the  United  States  has  done  a  great  deal  of 
business  in  flour  with  Brazil,  but  it  appears  that  the  volume  must  grow  smaller  with 
each  year,  until  it  finally  vanishes. 

The  United  States  was  buying  so  much  more  of  Brazil  than  Brazil  was  buying 
of  the  United  States  that  a  preferential  duty  was  granted  on  flour  and  some  other 
articles — which  preferential  duty  amounted  to  20  per  cent.  This  preferential  is 
still  in  force  against  Argentine  as  well  as  other  countries. 

The  duty  on  flour  is  twenty-five  reis,  or  four-tenths  of  i  cent  per  pound,  and 
as  part  of  the  duty  is  payable  in  gold  and  part  in  currency,  it  makes  an  interesting 
calculation.  At  the  rate  of  exchange  now  prevailing,  the  rebates  upon  flour  shipped 
from  the  United  States  are  close  to  $0.19  per  barrel.  With  the  low  rate  of  freight 
prevailing  from  Argentine,  this  rebate  is  not  enough  to  allow  business  from  the 
United  States  to  be  carried  on  south  of  the  city  of  Bahia. 

The  United  States  produces  certain  goods  which  are  especially  desired  by 
Brazil,  to  such  an  extent  that  the  Government  protects  the  entry  of  these  goods  by  a 
reduction  of  duty  which  is  not  accorded  to  the  European  manufacturer.  This  is 
obviously  the  clover  field  of  the  American  merchant.  Under  this  act  the  following 
goods  manufactured  in  the  United  States  are  thus  favored :  Flour,  condensed  milk, 
rubber  goods,  clocks,  watches,  paints,  colors,  varnishes,  refrigerators,  pianos,  scales, 
windmills,  cement,  dried  fruit,  desk  and  school  furniture,  and  typewriters. 

The  duty  on  the  last  article  is  30  milreis,  or  .about  $10,  with  a  reduction  of  20 
per  cent,  when  manufactured  in  the  United  States.  The  result  has  been  that  the 
American  typewriter  manufacturers  are  selling  a  very  large  amount  of  their  machines 
in  Brazil,  and  practically  control  the  market  there  for  this  article. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  strange  commentary  upon  the  well-known  energy  of 
the  American  manufacturer  that  the  rest  of  the  articles  which  benefit  under  the 
preferential  have  not  been  pushed  in  Brazil.  As  an  example  of  this  it  may  be  pointed 
out  that  Switzerland,  which  has  no  such  preference,  furnishes  60  per  cent,  of  the 
watches  purchased  in  Brazil ;  while  American  pianos — for  which  there  is  a  great 
demand — figure  at  only  7T/2  per  cent,  of  the  importation. 

In  addition  to  these  goods  which  are  favored  by  the  special  tariff,  there  are 
others  which  could  find  enormous  sales  in  Brazil.  Among  these  are  American  shoes, 
which  are  becoming  very  popular  there,  and  although  the  industry  is  enormous  in 
the  United  States,  only  one  maker  has  marketed  his  shoes  in  Brazil.  True,  there 
is  a  shoe  factory  outside  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  equipped  entirely  with  American  shoe 
machinery,  but  this  is  a  very  small  matter  when  one  takes  into  consideration  the 
amount  of  shoes  that  could  be 'sold. 

Another  industry  which  is  very  flourishing  in  the  United  States — and  in  which, 
if  I  am  not  mistaken,  America  leads — is  the  manufacture  of  firearms.  Still  out  of 
$6,000,000  worth  of  firearms  purchased  by  Brazil,  the  share  of  the  United  States  was 
about  $800,000. 

The  reason  for  this  is  very  simple.  American  manufacturers  are  trying  to 
sell  their  goods  through  regular  dealers  who  import  all  kinds  of  firearms  and 
ammunition.  These  dealers  have  no  practical  interest  in  American  goods,  and, 
therefore,  the  American  manufacturer  is  at  a  disadvantage.  The  dealers  in  most 
cases  favor  the  European  product,  and  as  the  purchaser  knows  very  little  about  the 
various  makes,  he  leaves  the  decision  entirely  to  the  merchant.  If  American  manu- 

266 


facturers  of  firearms  desire  to  establish  their  business  in  Brazil,  they  should  open  a 
branch  office  in  Rio  de  Janeiro,  with  other  branches  in  the  more  important  Brazilian 
cities.  With  an  experienced  representative  in  charge  they  would  certainly  get  much 
of  the  business  now  going  to  Europe. 

The  American  manufacturer  can  therefore  see  that  his  products  can  be  sold 
in  Brazil,  and.  that  Brazil  needs  most  of  them ;  further,  that  while  he  is  today  taking 
the  largest  proportion  of  the  resources  of  the  country,  his  exports  are  confined  to  a 
few  of  the  hundreds  available  and  profitable. 

By  far  the  greatest  items  are  coffee  and  rubber,  which  cover  fully  80  per  cent, 
of  the  Brazilian  exports,  while  tobacco,  cocoa,  etc.,  make  up  the  remaining  20 
per  cent 

Anyone  who  knows  the  great  amount  of  the  neglected  raw  material  available 
for  American  use  can  realize  that  its  non-purchase  is  due  in  a  great  measure  to  an 
ignorance  of  its  existence.  Such  is  the  case  with  the  various  fibre  plants  of  the 
country.  Everywhere  you  will  find  the  Malvaceas  which  can  be  compared  very 
favorably  with  hemp,  and  by  many  people  is  considered  vastly  superior  when  properly 
treated.  There  is  another  plant  which  has  been  used  most  successfully  for  rope 
making.  Sao  Paulo,  the  great  coffee  center,  is  the  only  State  in  which  fibre  is  used 
extensively  for  the  making  of  coffee  sacks,  some  60,000  or  70,000  bags  being  made 
monthly.  In  the  State  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  the  cultivation  of  the  fibre  has  been 
started  with  the  idea  of  exporting  it  to  Europe.  In  the  State  of  Minas  Geraes  there 
is  a  fibre  which  is  stronger  than  hemp,  and  which  grows  to  a  length  of  from  ten 
to  fourteen  feet.  This  fibre  is  used  in  England  as  a  substitute  for  Eastern  hemp, 
but  so  far  no  American  importer  seems  to  have  realized  the  value  of  such  an 
importation. 

In  the  States  of  Sao  Paulo,  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  Minas  Geraes  there  grows  a 
variety  of  cork  which  can  be  used  in  life  preservers,  as  it  has  been  found  that  it  can 
support  from  twenty  to  thirty  times  its  own  weight. 

For  many  centuries  Brazil  has  been  growing  sugar-cane,  but  it  is  only  recently 
that  cultivation  of  this  valuable  product  has  progressed  to  a  point  where  the 
Brazilian  cane  is  competing  markedly  with  other  varieties. 

Another  product  which  is  very  little  imported  in  this  country  is  mate  or 
Brazilian  tea.  Last  year  Europe  took  $9,000,000  worth  of  this  article,  whereas  in 
the  United  States  it  is  hardly  known.  It  is  credited  with  quite  remarkable  qualities, 
and  according  to  an  official  report  in  Washington  the  Brazilian  army  has  subsisted 
entirely  on  it  during  three  days  of  heavy  fighting  in  the  Paraguayan  war. 

American  people  who  have  quite  a  commerce  in  the  fruit  industry  have  never 
attempted  to  use  the  infinite  variety  of  fruits  indigenous  to  Brazil.  Few  countries 
produce  so  many  as  Brazil,  and  yet  not  many  of  these  fruits  have  found  their  way 
here,  though  they  will  all  stand  transportation. 

Among  other  products  are  medicinal  plants  and  roots,  herbs,  and  various 
minerals,  such  as  iron,  manganese,  nickel  and  zinc.  They  are  but  an  infinitesmal 
proportion  of  the  raw  products  of  Brazil,  and  most  of  them  occupy  such  a  small 
place  on  the  import  list  of  the  United  States  that  they  may  be  said  to  be  practically 
unknown. 

But  it  is  not  only  in  products  of  the  country  that  American  people  have  an 
opportunity  to  acquire  wealth.  It  is  in  the  development  of  the  country  itself,  which 
shows  unique  opportunities  for  American  capital.  The  telephone,  for  instance, 
which  is  playing  such  an  important  part  in  our  daily  business  life,  is  becoming  very 
general  in  Brazil,  where  there  are  at  present  thirty-nine  systems,  of  which  four  are 
American,  the  others  being  German,  Swedish  and  French.  The  most  important 
telephone  system — that  of  Rio  de  Janeiro — is  operated  by  American  Syndicate,  nnd 
has  21,000  miles  of  underground  wire,  but  there  are  hundreds  of  cities  where  Ameri- 
can capital  could  be  used  for  the  installation  of  telephone  systems  with  great  profit 
to  public  and  corporation. 

The  construction  of  railroads  is  another  of  the  many  uses  that  Brazil  has  for 
foreign  capital.  Over  three  hundred  miles  of  railroad  were  opened  for  traffic  last 
year. 

Harbor  improvement  works  are  now  progressing  in  ports  in  Manaos,  Para, 
Recife,  Bahia,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Santos,  Florianopolis  and  Rio  Grande.  Similar  works 
are  the  survey  of  Fortaleza,  Victoria  and  Paranagua.  At  the  port  of  Para  the  first 
section  of  quays  has  been  opened.  The  channel  of  the  river  has  been  dredged. 

Up  to  the  present  time  electric  traction  systems  have  been  established  in  most 

267 


of  the   important   cities,   and   throughout   the    length   and   breadth    of   the   country 
modern  improvements  are  increasing  daily. 

How  much  of  this  is  due  to  American  capital  and  how  much  to  British,  Ger- 
man or  French  enterprise  ?  Sad  to  relate,  there  is  no  comparison  to  be  made  in  this 
connection. 

Of  course,  Great  Britain,  Germany  and  France  have  an  advantage  in  the  fact 
that  they  have  banks  which  greatly  facilitate  the  use  of  their  surplus  home  capital. 
The  establishment  of  an  American  bank  is  an  indisputable  necessity  if  the  United 
States  wants  to  build  up  an  exchange  of  trade. 

This  is  not  mentioned  as  a  reflection  upon  banking  institutions  controlled  by 
foreign  capital.  They  have  been  and  are  doing  a  great  service  in  the  exchange  of 
commerce — not  only  for  European  countries,  but  for  the  United  States  as  well — 
but  there  is  just  as  much  reason  why  there  should  be  banks  controlled  by  American 
money  as  there  should  be  those  controlled  by  European  interests.  Every  dollar  of 
United  States  capital  which  goes  into  banks  in  South  America  helps  to  develop  the 
country  and  to  increase  the  facility  of  trade  for  all  the  world.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  the  longer  the  financial,  banking  and  manufacturing  interests  of  the  United 
States  delay  perfecting  and  operating  banking  agencies  in  South  America,  the  longer 
will  they  delay  the  day  when  there  will  be  developed  that  exchange  of  commerce 
between  North  and  South  America  which  should  characterize  the  relations  of  the 
two  continents  of  the  Western  Hemisphere. 

Beside  banking,  there  is  a  need  for  the  American  manufacturer  better  to 
understand  the  Latin  American  character,  disposition  and  business  methods.  It 
would  seem  that  the  merchant  here  does  not  deal  in  a  fair  manner  with  the  South 
American  buyer.  At  any  rate,  the  methods  he  employs  are  not  methods  he  would 
like  other  people  to  employ  when  dealing  with  him. 

These  remarks  bear  especially  upon  the  question  of  credit.  Why  should  the 
American  manufacturer  refuse  absolutely  to  give  credit  to  the  South  American 
buyer,  whereas  he  himself  insists  upon  obtaining  credit  when  purchasing  the  raw 
material  for  his  products  ? 

Here  is  a  case  in  point.  A  manufacturer  sold  a  bill  of  goods  amounting  to 
$450.  With  the  order  came  a  check  for  $400,  which  amount  the  South  American 
buyer  thought  correct.  In  spite  of  the  apparent  good  faith  of  the  Brazilian  in  send- 
ing the  draft  with  his  order,  the  American  manufacturer  refused  to  deliver  the 
goods  until  the  lacking  $50  were  paid.  It  is  doubtful  if  that  man  received  very 
much  trade  from  that  section  of  the  country,  and  the  chances  are  that  he  laid  the 
blame  not  on  himself,  but  en  the  lack  of  progress  of  South  America. 

Brazilian  buyers  have  as  much  right  to  obtain  credit  as  European  dealers 
who  buy  from  American  manufacturers;  and  the  credit  extended  by  European 
manufacturers  is  one  of  the  main  reasons  why '  the  United  States  is  only  third 
in  the  rank  of  the  exporting  countries. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  North  American  does  not  understand  the  South 
American  or  the  condition  of  commerce  in  South  America.  Very  often  his  Southern 
Business  relations  have  resulted  in  some  unfortunate  experience  such  as  he  might 
have  in  his  own  country  if  he  did  not  go  about  things  in  the  proper  way.  He  then 
thinks  his  difficulty  is  characteristic  of  the  entire  situation.  The  largest  firm  in 
New  York  will  undoubtedly  substantiate  the  statement  that  merchants  in  the  United 
States  can  do  business  just  as  safely  with  Brazil  as  they  can  with  Europe. 

The  trade  conditions  in  Brazil  may  be  divided  into  two  kinds — those  that  can, 
and  those  that  cannot,  be  overcome  by  the  exporter,  whether  he  is  a  manufacturer 
or  producer.  Under  the  former  of  these  may  be  mentioned  the  lack  of  banking 
facilities  and  of  transportation,  both  of  which  are  subjects  for  united  action.  What 
the  individual  manufacturer  can  do  is  to  bring  his  market  more  closely  to  his  plant 
through  the  proper  selection  of  agents.  It  is  practically  impossible  for  an  American 
firm  desirous  of  a  market  in  Brazil,  with  all  its  opportunities,  to  obtain  it  without 
the  employment  of  agents  who  will  cover  the  entire  country.  I  say  agents,  because 
it  .would  be  foolish  to  attempt  to  cover  with  any  one  agent  the  whole  territory  of 
Brazil  from  the  Amazon  to  the  River  Plate.  When  one  takes  into  consideration 
the  immense  area  of  Brazil  and  the  lack  of  communication  between  its  market 
places,  the  impracticability  of  a  single  agent's  endeavors  to  deal  with  this  entire 
country  from  a  single  point  will  be  readily  understood.  For  instance,  a  firm  may 
have  an  agent  in  Rio  Grande  do  Sul,  and  desire  to  close  some  business  connection 
with  a  firm  in  Manaos.  With  the  actual  means  of  communication  at  present  in 
vogue,  it  is  impossible  to  travel  the  distance  between  these  two  places  in  less  than 
twenty-five  days. 

268 


If  a  commercial  house  would  undertake  to  solve  the  problem  by  locating  its 
agent  at  Rio  de  Janeiro,  basing  its  decision  on  the  fact  that  that  city  has  one  million 
or  more  inhabitants,  and,  therefore,  is  the  principal  center  of  consumption,  it  would 
commit  a  grave  error.  Should  the  agent  there  find  it  necessary  to  go  to  Para  or 
Manaos  to  adjust  any  of  the  many  matters  which  would  frequently  call  for  his 
presence  at  either  of  those  points,  he  would  be  obliged  to  be  absent  from  his  main 
office  for  more  than  forty  days,  which  naturally  would  disturb  the  routine  of 
business. 

Firms  seeking  trade  in  Brazil  and  anxious  to  achieve  results  must  have  at 
least  two  agents,  one  working  in  the  north  of  Manaos  as  far  as  Bahia,  and  the  other 
in  the  south  from  Bahia  to  Rio  Grande  do  Sul.  But  since  the  conditions  of 
Brazilian  commerce  present  the  necessity  of  a  permanent  headquarters  at  Rio  de 
Janeiro,  it  is  better  policy  to  establish  a  central  office  at  that  point  with  sub-agents, 
to  cover  the  States  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Sao  Paulo  and  Minas  Geraes,  besides  the 
Federal  District,  thus  allowing  for  these  agents  greater  scope  for  activity  and 
opportunity  for  expanding  trade. 

The  question  of  the  number  of  traveling  agents,  however,  is  not  the  only  one 
around  which  the  success  of  a  commercial  concern  will  turn.  The  quality  of  these 
agents  is  of  the  highest  importance.  In  South  American  countries,  and  principally 
in  Brazil,  the  personality  of  the  traveling  agents,  his  appearance,  his  education  and 
his  bearing  mean  the  difference  between  success  and  failure  in  the  matter  of  getting 
business  results.  It  must  be  also  remembered  that  the  fundamental  Latin  strain  of 
the  South  American  people  creates  a  temperamental  difference  between  themselves 
and  the  American  business  man.  It  should  be  recognized  that  the  commercial  agent 
must  meet  at  the  outset  a  certain  amount  of  mistrust.  The  American  as  a  new- 
comer cannot  do  business  at  first  sight.  The  Brazilian  is  not  prone  to  jump  into 
new  commercial  relations,  and  his  attitude  is  perhaps  to  a  considerable  extent  justi- 
fied by  unfortunate  experiences  in  the  past. 

The  question  of  language  is  almost  a  vital  one.  It  has  been  fully  understood 
by  the  chief  competitors  of  the  United  States,  namely,  Germany  and  Great  Britain. 
Indeed,  the  former  of  these  has  so  strongly  fortified  herself,  largely  through  this 
linguistic  quality,  that  it  will  not  be  easy  for  the  newcomer  to  make  any  serious 
inroads  upon  German  trade.  A  confidence  once  established  is  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Brazilian  a  very  valuable  thing.  The  German  traveling  salesmen  speak  as  a  rule 
besides  their  own  language  French,  English,  Spanish  and  Portuguese.  Either  of 
the  last  two  of  these  will  be  a  powerful  help  for  the  introduction  of  business  in 
Brazil.  But  the  American  business  house  which  would  venture  to  send  a  salesman 
speaking  English  to  Brazil  would  be  foolhardy,  indeed,  as  subsequent  events  would 
show. 

The  question  of  advertising  in  Brazil  is  a  thing  not  wholly  understood  by  the 
American  manufacturer,  and  it  is,  even  more  than  in  America,  a  peculiar  assistant 
to  the  agent  and  salesman.  It  seems  strange  to  the  Brazilian  that  the  American 
manufacturer  who  is  willing  to  spend  great  sums  in  advertising  at  home  is  rather 
sceptical  regarding  the  advisability  of  doing  so  in  an  importing  country.  This  dis- 
inclination to  advertise  in  a  country  which  is  particularly  susceptible  to  such  influ- 
ence can  only  be  understood  on  the  assumption  that  the  American  manufacturer  is 
unacquainted  with  one  very  important  feature  of  the  situation.  It  is  a  fact  that  not 
only  in  Brazil,  but  throughout  all  of  South  America,  trade  marks  and  brands  once 
established  in  those  countries  have  a  definite  and  lasting  value.  It  is  characteristic 
that  in  Brazil  goods  are  usually  called  for  in  the  name  of  the  manufacturer,  or  by 
the  name  he  gives  to  the  goods,  rather  than  by  the  general  designation  of  those 
goods.  As  an  instance  of  this,  several  years  ago  there  was  introduced  into  Northern 
Brazil  a  certain  brand  of  axe  which  is  used  by  the  planters  of  the  interior  at  Para 
and  Amazonas.  No  Brazilian  in  purchasing  an  axe  would  use  the  Brazilian  word 
for  it;  he  always  purchases  an  axe  under  the  name  of  its  original  manufacturer. 
Several  attempts  have  been  made  to  introduce  other  brands  of  axes,  some  possibly 
better,  but  all  such  efforts  are  fruitless  because  one  manufacturer  affixed  his  name 
so  positively  to  the  article  that  for  many  decades  this  particular  axe  has  main- 
tained its  supremacy  in  the  minds  of  the  buyers  of  that  region.  In  cutlery,  ^dry 
goods,  pharmaceutical  products,  shoes,  hats,  agricultural  machinery  and  other  lines 
this  fact  has  the  same  peculiar  application. 

Much  advice  could  be  given  to  manufacturers  in  regard  to  establishing  a 
market  for  their  goods  in  Brazil,  but  the  most  important  is  to  study  thoroughly  the 
country,  climate,  people — and  their  business  methods. 

The  result  will  prove  the  wisdom  of  this  statement 

269 


INFORMAL  REMARKS  BY  MR.  A.  B.  FARQUHAR,  DELEGATE 

FROM  THE  NATIONAL  IMPLEMENT  &  VEHICLE  ASSOCIATION 

AND  ONE  OF  THE  DELEGATES  FROM  THE  NATIONAL 

ASSOCIATION  OF  MANUFACTURERS 

A  few  suggestions  from  a  manufacturer  of  implements  and  machinery  of  fifty- 
five  years'  experience,  with  an  export  trade  throughout  the  world  for  forty-five  years, 
especially  in  Latin  America,  may  prove  of  value  to  this  Conference. 

The  importance  of  close  relations  with  our  Latin  American  neighbors  will  be 
appreciated  when  it  is  remembered  that  their  import  and  export  trad6  amounts  to 
about  two  thousand  millions  of  dollars  a  year,  comparing  very  favorably  with  that 
of  the  United  States.  Fifty  years  ago  a  large  portion  of  this  trade,  then  in  its  in-^ 
fancy,  was  in  our  hands,  and  our  vessels  were  to  be  found  in  every  port.  Now  out 
of  2500  vessels  entering  the  port  of  Rio  Janeiro  last  year,  the  United  States  had  but 
seven  sailing  vessels,  no  steamers.  And  we  have  no  banks  in  South  America.  It  is 
true,  we  have  facilities  for  shipping  goods  from  our  ports  through  European  lines; 
but  there  is  much  sentiment  in  business ;  trade  is  apt  to  follow  investments  and  per- 
sonal acquaintance. 

Human  nature  is  very  much  alike  in  fundamentals  everywhere,  and  we  make  a 
great  mistake  in  judging  the  Latin  people  inferior  because  they  differ  from  us,  haven't 
the  same  attitude  of  mind.  From  personal  knowledge,  I  may  say  that  they  are 
superior  to  us  in  many  respects.  They  are  more  courteous,  have  a  higher  sense  of 
honor,  a  finer  artistic  sense.  We  have  quite  as  much  to  learn  from  them  as  they 
have  from  us.  With  proper  care,  and  investigation  of  credits,  which  we  can  obtain 
through  our  Consuls  and  the  Commercial  Agencies,  loss  may  be  practically  elimi- 
nated. I  can  safely  say  that  my  total  losses  have  not  averaged  a  tenth  of  one  per 
cent.,  which  is  a  good  deal  more  than  I  can  say  of  domestic  business.  For  instance, 
more  than  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  was  due  me  from  the  Argentine  at  the  time 
the  finances  of  that  country  were  prostrated  by  the  Baring  failure.  Every  dollar  was 
subsequently  paid.  We  have  gained  a  large  share  of  the  trade  of  Mexico,  for  in- 
stance, by  visiting  the  people,  becoming  acquainted  with  them  and  making  invest- 
ments there. 

The  customer  has  the  right  to  say  how  he  wants  goods  made  and  packed.  If 
we  desire  to  sell  them,  it  is  our  business  to  comply  with  their  wishes.  The  question 
of  packing  is  of  the  utmost  importance.  A  delegate  to  this  Conference  said  he  was 
glad  to  find  there  was  "no  longer  any  Kindergarten  talk  about  packing."  I  question 
very  much  whether  he  has  had  much  practical  experience  with  shipping  to  South 
America.  The  matter  of  packing  is  primary  and  of  the  utmost  importance,  and  want 
of  proper  care  in  packing  has  cost  the  American  manufacturer  dearly.  To  win 
South  American  trade  we  must  cultivate  esprit  de  corps,  all  work  together,  say  a 
good  word  for  America  and  American  manufactures  wherever  possible,  and  send 
the  right  sort  of  men  to  represent  us,  since  courtesy  is  absolutely  essential  in  dealing 
with  Latin  races. 

In  conclusion  I  would  suggest  that  in  the  meantime  you  often  visit  this  "temple 
of  friendship,"  talk  with  John  Barrett,  and  all  subscribe  to  the  Bulletin  of  the 
Pan  American  Union  and  carefully  read  every  page  of  it. 

EXTRACTS  FROM  PAPER  SUBMITTED  BY  MR.  JOSE  MARCAL, 

GENERAL  REPRESENTATIVE,  JORNAL  DO  BRASIL, 

FOR  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  blame  for  the  backwardness  of  commercial  expansion  between  the  United 
States  and  Brazil  can  be  placed  exclusively  at  the  door  of  the  American  manu- 
facturer, by  reason  of  his  ignorance  of  business  method  compatible  with  Brazilian 
ideas  and  education.  The  American  manufacturer  undoubtedly  desires  to  do  business 
with  Brazil,  but  seeks  to  impose  his  own  methods,  and  does  not  in  any  way  cater  to 
the  Brazilian  taste  and  ideas,  hence  the  Brazilian  preference  for  the  supplier  who 
understands  him,  and  who  aids  him  in  every  way  possible  towards  the  success  of  his 
business.  He  gets  these  facilities  and  attentions  from  the  British,  French  and  Ger- 
man manufacturers,  while  the  American  leaves  them  to  the  New  York  export  com- 
mission houses,  thus  involving  additional  charges  for  the  Brazilian  buyer. 

270 


Again,  the  amount  of  American  capital  employed  in  Brazil  is  comparatively 
small.  As  Consul  Lay  remarked,  the  greater  part  of  the  capital  employed  in  public 
works,  etc.,  is  foreign,  and  it  is  therefore  quite  admissible  that  Brazil  prefers  those 
markets  where  she  finds  money  and  credit  in  times  of  need.  The  United  States  is 
hurt  because  we  do  not  build  our  warships  in  her  yards,  but  she  does  not  pause  to 
consider  that  we  are  accorded  greater  facilities  by  the  British  shipwrights. 

Besides  the  above  cited  obstacles  created  by  the  ignorance  of  the  American 
manufacturer,  there  must  be  taken  into  consideration  the  potent  fact  that  practically 
all  the  Brazilian  commerce  is  in  the  hands  of  Europeans,  who  know  the  markets 
of  the  Old  World  better  than  those  of  the  United  States.  It  therefore  behooves  the 
American  to  make  a  systematic  propaganda  of  his  goods.  It  is  well  known  that  the 
United  States  is  Brazil's  best  customer  for  her  products,  such  as  coffee,  cocoa,  hides, 
rubber,  etc.,  and  it  would  seem  reasonable  that  she  reciprocate  by  giving  preference 
to  the  United  States  for  her  purchases.  That  this  condition  does  not  obtain  is  simply 
due  to  the  fact  that  Brazil  enjoys  greater  advantages  in  other  markets,  particularly 
as  regards  credit.  Furthermore,  there  must  also  be  taken  into  account  the  senti- 
mental fact  that  Brazil's  commercial  relations  with  Europe  date  back  to  the  time 
when  the  manufacturing  capacity  of  the  United  States  had  not  developed  to  the 
point  that  she  needed  the  foreign  markets  in  which  to  place  the  excess  of  her  produc- 
tion. 

All  these  arguments  go  to  prove  the  need  of  extensive  propaganda  of  Ameri- 
can goods  in  Brazil.  The  field  is  large — Brazil  has  an  area  larger  than  the  United 
States  proper,  with  a  population  of  nearly  twenty-five  millions — and  with  the  prefer- 
ential tariff  now  in  force,  the  United  States  should  head  the  list  of  Brazil's  suppliers. 
The  American  patent  medicine  owners  have  long  since  discovered  the  value  of  our 
country  as  an  outlet  for  their  productions,  aiid  I  might  mention  several  firms  who 
have  made  immense  fortunes  by  the  sale  of  proprietary  medicines  in  Brazil. 

We  are  large  buyers  of  staples,  and  of  course  are  obliged  to  come  to  the 
United  States  for  such  articles  as  kerosene,  rosin,  turpentine  and  flour,  although  in 
this  last  mentioned  commodity  Argentina  is  a  close  competitor,  chiefly  on  account  of 
favorable  freight  rates.  We  buy  immense  quantities  of  lumber,  barbed  wire  and 
agricultural  implements,  and  nearly  always  place  the  orders  in  the  United  States. 
Now,  why  should  we  not  come  to  you  for  all  our  manufactured  goods,  chemical 
products,  drugs,  perfumery  and  an  infinity  of  those  articles  in  the  production  of 
which  this  country  is  equalled  by  few  and  excelled  by  none?  Because  your  manu- 
facturers will  not  give  us  credit. 

In  the  city  of  New  York  there  are  innumerable  export  houses  doing  a  large 
and  profitable  trade  with  Brazil,  and  there  exists  amongst  them  keen  competition 
for  the  business.  The  exporter  buys  for  cash,  and  extends  credit  up  to  90,  120,  and 
even  150  days'  sight  to  his  customer.  Now,  why  should  the  manufacturer  decline  to 
extend  the  same  facilities  to  the  oversea  consumer?  This  would  eliminate  the  ex- 
porter's charges,  and  enable  the  manufacturer  to  place  his  goods  in  the  Brazilian 
markets  at  prices  which  would  compare  favorably  with  those  of  Europe.  Of  course 
all  the  American  manufacturers  could  not  maintain  an  export  department  of  this 
nature,  still  I  could  mention  several  firms,  particularly  those  interested  in  cutlery, 
hardware,  tools,  etc.,  who  by  so  doing  would  save  the  "middleman's"  profit  for  the 
consumer. 

In  thanking  this  select  assembly  for  their  attention  I  beg  leave  to  sum  up  as 
follows : 

When  the  United  States  understands  that  in  order  to  take  her  proper  place 
in  the  Brazilian  markets  she  must  know  how  to  compete  in  every  way  with  England, 
France  and  Germany,  that  is  to  say,  to  allow  the  buyer  the  same  facilities  and  credit 
which  he  finds  in  Europe ;  to  choose  as  the  representatives  of  her  factories  men  who 
can  adapt  themselves  to  our  ways  and  ideas ;  to  create  American  banks  for  the  facility 
of  transactions  between  buyer  and  seller;  advertise  largely  her  products;  translate 
catalogues  into  Portuguese  and  correspond  in  the  same  language ;  then  I  say,  will 
she  take  her  place  in  the  foremost  rank  of  Brazil's  suppliers,  for  we  hold  the  United 
States  in  real  esteem  and  sympathy,  and  lean  towards  her  as  the  great  head  of  Fan 
Americanism. 


271 


EXTRACTS  FROM  A  PAPER  ON  THE  EXCHANGE  OF  TRADE 
WITH  BRAZIL,  SUBMITTED  BY  MR.  LOUIS  RAPOSO 

The  only  effective  manner  to  canvass  the  Brazilian  trade  is  for  the  manu- 
facturer to  engage  the  services  of  competent  travelling  salesmen.  It  is  an  expensive 
one,  but  the  market  is  there,  an  excellent  market,  with  unlimited  possibilities  for  ex- 
pansion, as  it  is  bound  to  ever  increasing  tendencies  for  many  years  to  come.  Brazil 
has  a  territory  larger  than  the  United  States  proper,  and  Germany  combined,  with 
less  than  twenty-five  million  inhabitants ;  it  has  hardly  any  manufacturing  industries, 
ha£  to  import  nearly  everything  in  that  branch  of  industry.  It  is  an  essentially  agri- 
cultural country,  and  yet  imports  potatoes  and  beans,  and  we  have  seen  shipments 
of  eggs  forwarded  from  New  York  to  Para.  Why?  Because  the  man  who  is  busy 
gathering  rubber  and  getting  liberal  compensation  for  his  labor  cannot  afford  to 
abandon  the  work  of  producing  that  precious  raw  material  to  plant  beans  or  potatoes, 
or  even  to  breed  chickens,  though  he  has  to  pay^  most  exhorbitant  prices  for  eggs. 
The  Brazilian  Government  is  directing  its  attention  and  using  great  efforts  to  the 
colonization  of  its  vast  territory,  but  the. immigrant  will  find  it  an  easier  and  more 
productive  work  to  tear  from  the  wealthy  bosom  of  the  soil  its  untold  richness  of 
metals  of  precious  value,  of  its  rubber,  its  cotton,  its  coffee,  its  sugar,  its  cocoa,  its 
fibres,  an  enormous  number  of  products  with  ready  sale  at  home  and  abroad,  than  to 
engage  himself  in  any  manufacturing  industry.  It  is  clear,  then,  that  the  opportuni- 
ties for  the  foreign  manufacturer,  who  is  looking  for  Brazil  as  a  market  for  his 
wares,  will  be  good  and  lasting. 

If  the  American  manufacturer  wants  to  wrest  a  better  share  of  the  trade  from 
his  European  competitors,  he  has  to  adopt  means  as  good  or  better  than  theirs  in 
order  to  canvass  the  trade.  The  very  best  means  that  can  be  adopted  is  to  send  a 
representative  to  Brazil,  not  so  much  to  effect  the  sales  himself,  but  to  employ  natives 
to  do  the  selling  for  him.  If  possible,  to  have  an  office  in  the  main  cities,  or  at  least 
in  Rio  de  Janeiro.  The  office  may  be  managed  by  an  American,  but  the  salesmen 
ought  to  be  natives  and  allowed  to  follow  their  peculiar  way  of  performing  the  work. 
If  that  is  not  practical,  an  arrangement  to  group  four  or  six  manufacturers  to  main- 
tain the  office  ought  to  be  tried,  and  as  a  last  resort,  an  established  native  concern 
ought  to  be  contracted  with  to  act  as  the  representative  of  the  manufacturer. 

From  an  American  standpoint,  looking  'at  conditions  and  analyzing  them  as  if 
they  existed  in  Brazil,  just  as  they  are  in  this  country,  which  is  a  decided  mistake, 
suspicion  may  arise  from  our  persistence  in  recommending  the  native  salesman,  who, 
however,  we  would  prefer,  if  at  all  possible,  to  be  a  man  who  is  acquainted  with 
American  methods  of  doing  business,  to  use  that  knowledge  in  combination  with  his 
familiarity  of  the  peculiar  Latin  American  ways,  using  it  cautiously  and  wisely,  to 
smooth  the  way  towards  the  modernization  of  trading  system,  helping  his  own  object 
and  contributing  to  the  advancement  of  his  country. 

But  our  persistence  in  recommending  the  native  salesman  is  impelled  by  the 
existing  conditions  in  Brazil,  where  sentiment  predominates  to  such  an  extent  that  in 
some  cases  controls  business  in  a  stronger  grasp  than  business  principles  themselves. 
The  right  quality  of  goods  and  the  right  prices  are  very  good  elements  to  have  at 
one's  command  when  we  try  to  sell  goods  to  a  Brazilian,  but  they  are  far  from  being 
everything,  and  possibility  of  the  sale  does  not  rely  on  them,  nor  even  on  the  need  the 
prospective  buyer  has  of  the  goods  offered  for  sale,  but  more  strongly  on  the  way  to 
approach  and  treat  the  customer.  You  have  to  make  a  friend  of  your  prospective 
buyer  before  you  can  hope  to  make  him  your  customer,  and  if  you  wink  at  this  advice 
as^  silly,  you  will  find  out  some  day  that  your  competitor,  through  sentiment  and 
friendship,  succeeded  in  getting  an  order  away  from  you  at  prices  slightly  higher 
than  yours,  and  in  spite  of  the  prospective  buyer  not  being  in  great  need  of  the  goods 
offered. 

The  advertising  matter  is  another  factor  that  needs  attention  and  in  a  large 
percentage  of  cases  is  hindering  trade.  It  is  no  exaggration  to  state  that  while  Span- 
ish advertising  matter  sent  from  the  United  States  is  in  80  per  cent,  of  the  cases 
fairly  good,  the  Portuguese  is  bad  in  about  70  or  80  per  cent,  of  the  cases  and  in 
about  60  per  cent,  of  the  instances  is  unfit  for  distribution  and  will  absolutely  do  no 
good.  The  fault  lies  in  a  great  measure  in  the  lack  of  competency  of  the  translators. 
but  it  lies  sometimes  with  the  manufacturer  who  has  not  realized  that  where  temper- 
ament of  races  is  so  vastly  different,  they  cannot  expect  that  an  advertisement  written 
to  appeal  to  an  Anglo-Saxon  will  have  the  same  effect  on  a  Latin,  and  vice  versa. 

272 


Do  not  try  to  send  advertising  literature  into  Brazil  unless  it  is  written  into 
Portuguese,  if  you  wish  it  to  receive  the  attention  of  the  people.  United  States 
Consuls  in  the  different  cities  are  constantly  calling  the  attention  of  the  manufac- 
turers to  this,  yet  they  insist  in  sending  catalogues  to  Brazil  in  English  and  Spanish. 

Though  we  said  above  that  Brazil  needs  everything  in  the  manufacturing  line, 
it  does  not  follow  that  every  article  made  here  can  be  sold  in  Brazil.  A  line  of  parlor 
stoves  would  not  sell,  because  the  climate  does  not  require  their  use ;  the  sale  of  rugs 
will  be  extremely  limited;  other  articles  are  not  sold  because  they  ignore  their  ex- 
istence and  because  methods  adopted  are  antiquated  and  such  lines  need  an  educa- 
tional campaign;  we  will  cite,  as  an  instance,  poultry  food,  incubators;  others  need 
special  study  in  material  to  be  used  in  the  manufacture,  like  pianos,  that  need  to  be 
of  special  wood  for  some  parts  of  Brazil  to  withstand  humidity,  for  others  because 
of  worms  that  attack  certain  kinds  of  woods.  Then  we  have  to  consider  that  Brazil 
has  5000  miles  of  coast  and  goods  of  one  kind  sell  better  than  others  in  one  district 
and  the  reverse  happens  in  another  zone,  where  climate  is  different,  tastes  for  colors 
also  different,  and  other  conditions  to  be  considered  in  the  study  of  the  possibilities 
of  trade. 

It  is  opportune  to  state  here  the  lines,  the  sale  of  which  would  well  compensate 
all  efforts  and  expenses  to  introduce  in  the  Brazilian  markets,  and  they  are  exactly 
those  favored  with  a  preferential  tariff  when  their  precedence  is  from  the  United 
States.  They  are :  Drugs  and  proprietary  medicines,  wheat,  flour,  condensed  milk, 
rubber  goods,  varnishes,  typewriters,  refrigerators,  pianos,  scales,  windmills,  clocks 
and  watches,  furniture,  printing  material,  machinery,  hardware,  novelties,  agricultural , 
implements,  autos  and  other  vehicles,  shoes,  beverages,  perfumes,  paints.,  roofing, 
steam  and  electrical  specialties. 

Among  the  articles  which  the  United  States  is  having  such  a  poor  share  of  the 
trade  and  which  have  such  superiority  over  the  European  manufacture,  that  really 
ought  to  control  the  trade,  is  shoes. 

Three  years  ago,  when  we  left  Brazil  on  our  last  trip,  there  was  only  one 
American  manufacturer  sending  shoes  to  that  country,  and  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  there 
was  only  one  store  handling  them.  This  house,  we  understand,  was  tied  up  by  an 
arrangement  of  exclusive  agency  with  an  English  firm,  from  London,  and  no  one 
could  get  shoes  but  through  that  agent.  As  a  result  the  sale  of  those  shoes  was 
limited.  Shoes  that  retail  in  this  country  at  $3.00  and  $4.00  were  selling  at  from 
$8.00  to  $12.00.  The  high  cost  excuse  was  placed  on  the  broad  shouldered  Govern- 
ment, which  stands  so  much  abuse,  the  duty,  and  yet,  if  an  American  manufacturer 
opened  stores  in  Brazil  he  would  find  out  that  he  could  sell  his  goods  for  100  per 
cent,  less  than  the  current  prices  and  make  a  far  better  profit  than  he  can  make  at 
home.  The  result  of  great  increase  of  sales  with  such  reduction  is  obvious. 

The  parcel-post  between  Brazil  and  the  United  States  if  taken  advantage  of 
will  bring  a  good  deal  of  trade  to  this  country.  When  the  parcel-post  in  Brazil  was 
started  with  England  and  France,  business  through  that  facility  grew  to  such  an 
extent  that  the  retail  stores  raised  protests  against  it. 

English  and  French  concerns  distributed  catalogues  and  some  went  as  far 
as  to  establish  agencies  where  small  buyers  could  leave  their  orders  to  be  forwarded 
to  the  main  houses  in  England  and  France.  The  Department  stores  and  others  in 
this  country  could  follow  this  example  with  advantage.  We  will  be  glad  to  give  .any 
detailed  information  about  this  or  any  other  suggestion  we  make  in  this  paper,  and 
manufacturers  have  already  many  channels  of  information  besides  the  Monthly  Bulle- 
tin of  the  Pan  American  Union,  such  as  The  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  and 
kindred  institutions. 

Brazil  being  an  essentially  agricultural  country,  few  lines  will  find  a  larger 
field  than  the  agricultural  implements  and  machinery.  To  give  an  idea  of  the_ possi- 
bilities I  will  cite  an  example.  A  large  concern  doing  only  a  small  business  in  this 
line,  through  correspondence,  sent  down  in  1907  a  German-American  salesman  who 
spoke  the  language  of  the  country  and  adapted  himself  to  the  ways  of  the  people. 
Having  been  recommended  to  us,  we  wrote  a  couple  of  editorials  in  the  daily  paper 
of  which  we  were  one  of  the  editors,  calling  the  attention  of  the  planters  to  the 
antiquated  methods  they  were  adopting  in  their  agricultural  work,  and  telling  them 
of  the  opportunity  to  buy  up-to-date  machinery  from  my  friend.  Some  four  months 
afterwards  we  were  told  that  our  friend  had  sold  about  $200,000  worth  of  his  goods. 

He  had  to  contend  with  a  great  difficulty,  since  his  firm  did  not  allow  him  to 
extend  credits,  but  by  paying  a  commission  equivalent  to  6  per  cent  yearly  a  German 
commission  merchant  in  Brazil  paid  cash  for  his  orders  and  extended  credit  to  his 

273 


customers.  Where  there  is  a  will  there  is  a  way.  .Often  the  manufacturer  in  Amer- 
ica will  be  frightened  away  from  the  field  by  the  fancy  drawback  of  credit.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  he  can  get  cash  for  his  goods,  and  all  he  has  to  do  is  to  discount  his 
drafts.  It  is  better  for  the  manufacturer  to  extend  his  credits  through  a  regular 
bank  than  through  the  assistance  of  the  commission  house  as  in  the  example  we 
mentioned  above.  He  would  do  a  larger  business  for  the  good  reason  that  the  Brazil- 
ian merchant  may  interpret  the  intrusion  of  the  intermediary  party  as  a  sign  of  mis- 
trust. By  adding  to  the  price  an  equivalent  to  the  interest  of  the  money  for  the 
length  of  credit  given,  sales  may  be  affected  with  the  same  profit  as  if  for  cash,  and 
the  manufacturers  will  have  no  trouble  in  discounting  his  paper  in  the  English  and 
German  banks  doing  business  with  Brazil,  with  branch  offices  in  New  York  City,  if 
their  standing  warrant  the  transactions. 

The  manufacturer  who  is  really  interested  in  the  Latin  American  trade  ought 
not  to  limit  himself  to  send  salesmen  to  the  field.  He  ought  as  well  employ  at  the 
head  of  his  Export  Department  some  one  also  acquainted  with  conditions  in  those 
countries  by  actual  experience  and  travels.  He  would  avoid  mistakes,  save  time 
and  money. 

We  have  seen  letters  from  manufacturers  who  undoubtedly  have  some  incom- 
petent man  at  the  head  of  their  Export  Departments,  but  who  are  large  concerns, 
highly  interested  in  the  Brazilian  trade  and  spending  money  to  get  it,  and  lines  that 
have  vast  possibilities  for  enormous  sales,  to  make  mistakes  that  will  make  them 
lose  time  and  money,  hindering  the  business  in  many  ways.  We  have  seen  them  ask 
^their  correspondents  to  employ  women  on  their  own  account  to  distribute  samples, 
^nd  some  even  asked  their  agents  to  employ  women  as  canvassers  to  introduce  their 
goods.  Were  they  acquainted  with  conditions  in  Brazil  they  would  see  how  silly  it 
will  sound  a  suggestion  of  that  kind  in  a  country  where  women  confine  themselves 
to  domestic  work.  We  have  seen  others  offer  exclusive  agency  for  the  whole  of 
Brazil  to  a  small  merchant  away  in  the  interior  of  a  central  State.  The  folly  of  such 
policy  can  be  humorously  called  trade  suicide.  We  have  seen  others  trying  to  score  a 
point  in  favor  of  seducing  profits  to  induce  their  agents  to  active  work,  mention  as 
a  great  advantage  the  fact  that  they  are  placing  goods  in  Brazil  at  a  cost  and  freight 
much  below  the  retail  price  stipulated  and  marked  in  their  wares,  forgetting  that 
duties  have  to  be  paid  which  will  be  a  big  factor  in  the  determination  of  actual 
cost.  Goods  for  countries  with  high  tariff  ought  never  have  prices  set  down  for 
retail  trade.  Then  there  are  differences  in  prices  from  State  to  State  and  from 
coast  to  interior.  An  article  may  sell  for  $i  in  Rio  and  leading  ports,  for  $5  in  in- 
terior of  central  and  South  Brazil,  for  $8  in  Para  and  Manaos,  and  for  $10  and  any 
fancy  proportion  away  up  the  Amazon  river  and  its  tributaries.  Another  illustration 
to  illustrate  the  errors  an  incompetent  man  can  commit  is  a  cable  code  an  important 
concern  sent  to  their  customers  in  Brazil.  Many  of  the  words  had  more  than  10 
letters,  and  as  the  limit  given  by  the  cable  company  is  ten  letters  to  the  word,  this 
concern  was  compelling  his  customers  to  spend  unnecessarily  one  dollar  extra  for 
each  word  thus  absurdly  furnished,  as  $i  is  the  price  for  word  between  here  and 
Brazil.  Another  error  we  have  seen,  and  this  one  in  many,  many  instances;  it  is 
the  sending  of  catalogues  with  details  as  to  weights  and  measures  without  adopting 
the  metric  or  decimal  system.  It  only  serves  to  confuse  the  buyer.  Take  any  Eng- 
lish or  German  catalogue  and  you  will  see  that  beside  the  inches  or  bushels,  or  any 
other  measurement,  there  will  be  its  equivalent  in  the  decimal  system.  Others  quote 
prices  for  goods  placed  on  board  in  some  interior  Western  city.  The  customer  in 
Brazil  has  not  the  facilities  to  find  out  freight  rates  to  a  seaport,  generally  New  York 
or  Philadelphia,  the  only  two  where  steamers  for  Brazil  touch,  and  that  way  he  can- 
not calculate  the  cost  of  the  goods.  All  prices  ought  to  be  free  on  board  the  steamer 
that  will  take  the  goods  to  B'razil. 

The  instances  are  numerous  and  it  would  be  impossible  to  give  in  this  paper 
an  account  of  them  all,  neither  would  it  be  possible  to  give  information  fitting  every 
line  of  goods,  but,  as  we  said  above,  we  are  always  ready  to  give  any  information 
requested  from  us. 

PAPER  OF  MR.  L.  A.  KIMBALL,  OF  SIMMONDS 
MANUFACTURING  CO.,  NEW  YORK 

Those  of  us  who  have  enjoyed  business  with  Pan  American  countries,  either 
in  large  valume  or  in  small  amount,  will  recognize  the  fact  that  there  are  a  great 
many  details  that  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  consider  in  the  matter  of  filling  orders, 

274 


and  that  there  is  a  great  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  manufacturers  here  to  ignore 
a  lot  of  these  details  almost  to  the  extent  of  virtually  saying,  "Oh,  they  do  not 
amount  to  anything;  we'll  get  the  goods  out  of  the  country  and  let  the  buyer  do  the 
rest."  Now,  if  these  instructions  that  are  given  with  the  orders  are  of  no  value,  and 
not  worthy  of  receiving  any  attention,  they  would  never  have  appeared  with  the 
order.  They  all  mean  something.  They  are  each  vital  to  the  other  in  order  to  have 
the  entire  transaction  complete. 

An  American  manufacturer  in  the  West  received  quite  an  order  covering  a 
full  line  of  what  might  'be  termed  agricultural  hardware.  There  was,  as  usual,  in- 
structions accompanying  the  order  as  to  invoicing,  shipping,  bills  of  lading,  packing 
lists,  making  draft,  marks  and  numbers.  When  the  manufacturer  received  this  order 
it  looked  good  to  him,  and  he  immediately  set  to  work  and  manufactured  all  of  the 
goods,  got  them  together,  checked  the  quantities  off  with  his  invoice,  packed  them  in 
cases,  had  them  all  ready  to  ship,  and  part  of  his  instructions  were  to  mark  each 
case  with  B  in  a  diamond  over  Buenos  Aires  and  number  "i  and'up."  To  the  greater 
portion  of  you  here  present  this  would  have  been  simple  enough,  but  to  this  Western 
manufacturer,  what  did  he  do?  He  made  out  his  invoices  on  three  or  four  large 
pages,  paid  no  attention  to  the  packing  lists,  and  on  the  side  of  his  invoice  he  wrote 
in  red  ink,  "each  case  numbered  I  and  up." 

Now,  gentlemen,  I  would  ask  you  to  go  down  to  Buenos  Aires  and  be  the 
receiver  of  these  goods.  There  were  fifty-one  big  cases,  and  all  that  the  buyer  had 
to  guide  him  as  to  the  contents  of  any  one  case  over  another  was  "nothing,"  as  they 
were  all  numbered  alike.  He  had  no  data  whereby  he  could  go  to  any  one  of  the 
fifty-one  cases  and  be  sure  of  finding  any  particular  line  of  goods  in  that  particular 
case.  The  consequences  were  that  the  buyer,  if  he  wanted  any  goods  on  that  invoice, 
had  to  start  in  and  open  up  every  case  until  he  found  the  goods  that  he  was  look- 
ing for. 

This  also  caused  complications  in  the  custom-house  and  caused  days  of  labor 
before  the  buyer  was  able  to  find  out  whether  he  had  received  all  of  the  goods  he 
was  supposed  to  have  received  or  not. 

The  matter  was  finally  straightened  out,  and  the  manufacturer  in  the  West 
received  a  bill  for  extra  services  caused  by  his  negligence,  charging  him  with  seventy- 
two  dollars,  and  I  wish  to  say  to  you  gentlemen  that  the  manufacturer  bought  the 
information  cheaply. 

Had  this  manufacturer  used  what  to  most  shippers  would  have  been  the 
plainest  of  common  sense  in  handling  these  goods  he  would  have  packed  his  goods 
in  a  case,  made  a  packing  list  of  its  contents,  and  made  the  first  case  No.  I,  second 
case  No.  2,  third  case  No.  3,  fourth  case  No.  4,  etc.,  etc.,  and  attached  these  packing 
lists  to  his  shipping  papers.  Then  the  buyer  would  be  relieved  from  all  of  this  work 
and  annoyance,  and  incidentally  the  manufacturer  would  have  saved  himself  seventy- 
two  dollars. 

Another  instance  is  a  case  where  a  manufacturer  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
United  States  complied  with  all  of  the  necessary  details  as  stipulated  in  the  order, 
only  where  he  made  the  mistake  in  the  matter  was  that  after  he  had  made  up  his 
packing  lists  he  put  them  into  the  cases,  put  the  covers  on  the  cases  and  nailed  them 
up,  and  did  not  furnish  any  advice,  only  at  the  foot  of  his  invoice  he  said:  "You 
will  find  the  packing  lists  in  the  cases."  These  goods  were  going  to  Manaos,  and, 
as  a  great  many  of  you  are  well  aware,  necessitated  two  or  three  transshipments, 
and  not  only  that,  but  the  ship  that  took  the  goods  out  of  this  port  got  into  trouble, 
the  goods  were  transferred  to  another  ship,  and  then  transferred  to  a  third  ship  to 
go  up  the  river.  Nineteen  of  these  cases  arrived  at  destination,  and  the  buyer  then 
had  the  pleasure  and  annoyance  of  opening  up  the  nineteen  cases  to  get  his  packing 
lists  and  check  the  goods  that  had  arrived  off  his  invoice  before  he  could  in  any  way 
know  what  had  been  lost. 

Gentlemen,  I  now  ask  you  if  you  think  that  it  is  at  all  probable  that  in  either 
of  the  two  above  examples  the  buyers  would  put  themselves  out  very  much  to  send 
duplicate  orders.  I  think  they  would  not.  On  the  contrary,  they  would  feel  more 
than  disposed  to  send  their  future  orders  to  manufacturers  who  would  carry  out 
their  instructions  regarding  shipping,  etc.,  etc. 

In  another  instance  of  a  matter  touching  on  this  line  is  an  extract  that  I  am 
going  to  read  to  you  in  regard  to  a  foreign  shipment  that  arrived  at  destination 
from  New  York,  and  I  am  going  to  quote  directly  from  the  buyers'  letter  so  as  to 
illustrate  the  matter  thoroughly: 

"Added  to  other  troubles  was  the  insufficiency  of  the  package  containing  the 

275 


machine.  This,  like  nearly  all  American  cases,  was  far  too  light  for  the  contents, 
and  by  the  time  it  was  loaded  the  machine  was  practically  'naked/  There  was  no 
bottom  to  the  case,  and  the  machine  was  simply  nailed  to  skid  pieces  and  the  case 
built  round  it.  Had  it  even  been  bolted  to  the  former  it  might  have  held,  but  prac- 
tically all  of  the  nails  drew  out  when  the  case  was  slung.  We  are  satisfied  the 
machine  was  all  right,  but  this  was  more  by  good  luck  than  any  management  on  the 
part  of  the  shippers.  The  steamer's  surveyor  gave  a  certificate  that  the  case  was 
insufficient,  and  had  the  machine  been  broken  we  are  satisfied  you  would  have  had 
little,  if  any,  chance  on  enforcing  a  claim." 

The  machine  that  is  spoken  of  in  the  above  letter  is  one  that  weighed  3200 
.pounds,  and  I  leave  it  to  your  own  good  judgment,  gentlemen,  if  this  buyer  would 
send  a  duplicate  order  with  any  confidence  when  his  first  shipment  arrived  in  the 
above  manner. 

We  have  heard  it  stated  here  in  this  room  that  the  American  manufacturers 
are  improving  in  their  packing.  This  is  certainly  very  gratifying.  There  is  certainly 
a  great  opportunity  for  them  to  do  so,  but  they  have  a  long  way  to  go  as  compared 
with  the  European  manufacturers,  who  are  past  masters  at  the  work. 

There  is  among  manufacturers  in  the  United  States  an  idea  prevailing  that 
they  cannot  compete  with  the  cheaper  labor  of  Europe  in  producing  goods  for  Pan 
American  countries.  I  am  going  to  ask  them  how  far  they  have  investigated  this 
matter.  They  have  learned  that  the  wages  over  there  are  about  one-third  of  what 
they  have  to  pay  over  here,  but  I  would  like  to  inquire  if  they  have  investigated  this 
question  any  further.  Have  they  taken  into  consideration  the  quality  and  the  finish 
of  the  material  that  the  Pan  American  countries  ask  for?  Have  they  found  out  what 
the  cost  of  labor  from  value  of  factory  output  is  in  Europe  as  compared  to  the  factory 
output  in  their  own  works?  If  they  have  not  done  this,  I  would  suggest  to  them 
that  they  investigate  this  matter.  They  may  find  something  to  remove  in  a  great 
measure  their  idea  that  the  day's  wages  cut  such  a  serious  figure  in  the  matter  of 
competition.  I  am  quite  thoroughly  satisfied  in  my  own  mind  that  when  the  quality 
of  the  goods  manufactured  is  taken  into  consideration  that  the  American  manufac- 
turers are  not  seriously  handicapped.  I  am  also  thoroughly  satisfied  that  there  are 
no  keener,  more  appreciative  or  better  judges  of  merchandise  anywhere  in  the  world 
than  our  Pan  American  friends.  They  are  willing  to  pay  the  price  for  the  quality, 
but  they  are  not  willing  to  pay  a  high  price  for  inferior  quality.  Give  them  what 
they  want  in  the  quality  that  they  require  and  you  will  find  that  they  are  always 
ready  to  pay  you  a  fair  manufacturers'  profit  for  the  goods,  or,  in  other  words,  "treat 
your  Pan  American  customers  as  you  want  to  be  treated  by  the  people  you  have  to 
buy  material  from,  and  you  will  find  that  they  will  treat  you  just  as  fairly." 

I  have  only  one  more  point  that  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to,  and  this  of 
necessity  must  be  entirely  of  a  personal  experience  and  to  qualify  myself  before  you, 
and  I  leave  it  to  your  good  judgment  to  give  it  such  consideration  as  you  please. 

I  want  to  state  that  it  has  been  my  pleasure  in  the  last  twenty-five  years  to  do 
business  under  twenty-two  different  forms  of  government  on  this  globe.  In  every 
country  that  I  have  been  in  I  have  made  it  a  universal  rule  to  call  on  our  ambassa- 
dor, our  consul  and  our  consul's  agent  whenever  it  was  possible  for  me  to  do  so,  and 
I  want  to  congratulate  the  Government  of  the  United  States  on  the  universal  ability, 
courtesy  and  energy  that  every  one  of  them  have  extended  to  me  whenever  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  meeting  them.  They  have  been  more  than  anxious  to  render  all  possible 
assistance  to  help  extend  the  commerce  between  the  country  that  they  were  accredited 
to  and  the  United  States.  They,  have  done  so  to  such  an  extent  as  to  really  make  it 
embarrassing  to  me  at  times,  because  I  could  not  in  any  way  reciprocate  their  cour- 
tesy; and  I  also  regret  to  have  to  say  that  the  facilities  extended  to  these  ambas- 
sadors, consuls  and  consuls'  agents  by  our  Government  to  enable  them  to  carry  on 
the  almost  unlimited  amount  of  work  they  have  to  perform,  not  only  in  taking  care 
of  the  many  details  connected  with  their  offices,  has  their  assistance  been  entirely  too 
limited  in  the  way  of  help,  but  their  offices  and  places  of  doing  business  are  so  con- 
tracted in  space  and  equipment  as  to  make  one  blush  with  shame  compared  with 
what  other  nations  of  much  lesser  importance  are  provided  with. 

I  can  call  to  mind  one  instance  where  the  American  consul  who  was  accred- 
ited to  a  city  with  over  half  a  million  population  had  only  two  small  back  rooms  of 
an  inferior  location  and  building  to  conduct  his  business  in,  and  from  my  own  per- 
sonal knowledge  he  was  only  able  to  provide  himself  with  what  we  in  this  country 
would  call  a  hall  bedroom  on  the  third  floor  of  a  cheap  boarding-house,  for  the 
reason  that  his  remuneration  by  the  Government  here  would  not  allow  him  better 

276 


quarters  on  account  of  the  necessary  expense  that  a  man  occupying  the  dignified 
position  of  consul  of  the  United  States  must  incur  to  keep  himself  properly  before 
the  public  there.  There  are  nations  all  over  the  world  represented  there,  and  there 
are  necessary  social  functions  taking  place  constantly,  and  naturally  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  United  States  is  also  one  of  the  first  that  is  at  least  somewhat  promi- 
nently before  them  all. 

What  I  would  like  to  see  is  that  the  United  States  Government  should  install 
all  of  our  ambassadors,  consuls,  etc.,  in  the  proper  quarters,  and,  more  than  anything 
else,  that  they  should  receive  the  proper  remuneration  for  the  work  that  they  do  so 
ably  and  loyally,  and  I  would  ask  every  one  of  you  gentlemen  when  you  return  to 
your  places  in  the  United  States  that  you  take  Ambassador  White's  advice,  and  write 
to  your  Representative  in  Washington  and  to  your  Senator  in  Washington  to  do 
everything  in  their  power  to  lift  all  of  the  consular  bureaus  of  the  United  States 
up  to  the  dignified  position  that  the  country  they  represent  should  entitle  them  to 
have. 

PAPER  OF  DOCTOR  WILLIAM  S.  MYERS,  DIRECTOR  CHILEAN 

NITRATE  PROPAGANDA 
(NORTH  AMERICA'S  NEED  FOR  CHILEAN  NITRATE) 

The  present  exhaustion  of  our  American  soils,  as  is  clearly  shown  by  their 
really  pitiful  average  yields  for  our'  staple  crops  as  compared  to  those  of  Europe, 
points  strongly  to  the  rational  use  of  fertilizers  as  an  important  first  aid  to  our 
farmers. 

Intelligent  cultivation  goes,  of  course,  hand  in  hand  with  rational  fertilization, 
but  the  most  available  form  of  nitrogenous  plant  food  is  what  is  most  needed  and 
what  is  most  essential  for  our  North  American  soils. 

The  nitrate  producers  of  Chile  are  now  able  to  provide  this  need  in  the  best 
form,  viz.,  nitrate  of  soda.  Our  American  farmers  have  already  shown  their  appre- 
ciation of  this  product  of  Chile  by  trebling  their  use  of  it  in  the  last  decade. 

The  legumes  as  a  source  of  nitrate  are  rather  too  slow  in  action  to  give  real 
immediate  profits  when  used  to  produce  great  money  crops.  Hence  for  their  urgent 
needs  our  American  farmers'  appreciation  of  the  quick-acting  Chilean  nitrate  is 
easily  understood. 

The  development  of  agricultural  co-operation  by  European  farmers  for  pur- 
chasing supplies  and  for  marketing  produce  places  them  in  a  much  stronger  position 
than  our  farmers.  Moreover,  it  induces  a  clearer  understanding  of  the  farmers' 
power  in  the  business  world,  for  with  financial  strength  comes  generally  a  clearer 
vision  of  actualities. 

The  early  established  European  custom  of  directly  using  the  fertilizer  simples, 
and  notably  the  rational  use  of  the  nitrate  of  Chile,  accounts,  with  thorough  cultiva- 
tion, for  the  splendid  average  yields  of  staple  crops  now  enjoyed  by  most  European 
States.  The  application  of  more  than  one  science  to  European  agriculture  thus 
induced  the  early  and  widespread  use  of  Chilean  nitrate  in  Europe.  Besides,  Europe 
had  an  immense  advantage  to  start  with  in  that  her  agricultural  experiment  stations 
were  started  before  commercial  fertilizers  began  to  be  used,  and  hence  the  early 
rational  use  of  nitrate  of  Chile,  and  in  marked  contrast  to  our  farmers'  disadvantage 
in  having  had  our  experiment  stations  established  long  after  the  manufacture  of 
commercial  fertilizers  had  begun,  thus  permitting  irrational  practice  to  become  a 
habit. 

A  comparison  of  the  average  yields  per  acre  of  two  staple  crops  only  will 
suffice  to  show  the  striking  differences  between  the  countries  as  to  their  agricultural 
practice,  viz. : 

Wheat.         Oats. 

United  States,  average  yield  per  acre 14  bu.        30  bu. 

Germany,  average  yield  per  acre 28    j  48 

England,  average  yield  per  acre 33  45 

and  similar  contrasts  obtain  for  other  crops. 

It  seems  plain  that  Europe  has  practically  solved  the  problem  of  soil  exhaus- 
tion. As  part  of  the  rational  use  of  fertilizers  in  Europe,  the  enormous  consumption 
of  Chilean  nitrate  has  had  a  most  potent  influence  in  soil  conservation.  For  outside 

277 


of  Russia,  Europe  takes  over  a  million  tons  of  Chilean  nitrate  annually,  and  for  use 
on  a  smaller  total  acreage  than  is  under  cultivation  in  the  United  States,  whereas 
here  we  take  less  than  300,000  tons  per  annum  for  agricultural  purposes. 

Our  400,000,000  acres  of  tillable  lands  might  profitably  take  20,000,000  tons  of 
Chilean  nitrate  per  annum,  and  eventually  will  take  a  vastly  greater  tonnage  than 
at  present,  and  without  doubt  immediately  after  the  Panama  Canal  is  opened. 

Our  plantations  and  our  farms  could  readily  add,  by  the  rational  use  of 
Chilean  nitrate, 

10,000,000  bales  of  cotton, 

300,000,000  bushels  of  wheat, 

600,000,000  bushels  of  corn, 

300,000,000  bushels  of  oats, 

and  enormous  increases  in  the  annual  production  of  other  staple  crops  on  our  pres- 
ent acreages. 

Moreover,  an  annual  North  American  consumption  of  even  5,000,000  tons  of 
Chilean  nitrate  would  not  only  add  a  handsome  item  of  revenue  to  our  transporta- 
tion companies  on  its  own  account,  but  it  would  add  immensely  to  such  annual  reve- 
nues by  virtue  of  the  resulting  outbound  tonnage  of  increased  agricultural  produce 
and  to  the  extent  of  many  millions  of  dollars. 

Abundant  employment  for  labor  generally  would  thus  certainly  result,  and 
the  sale  of  the  vastly  increased  tonnage  of  agricultural  products  would  bring  great 
prosperity  to  our  farmers  and  almost  immediately  to  our  factories.  Incidentally, 
our  food  supply  would  be  greatly  increased  and  more  reasonable  prices  for  those 
important  items,  which  now  are  so  high  as -to  constitute  the  chief  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  a  more  reasonable  cost  of  living. 

For  the  products  of  the  west  coast  of  South  America  the  future  is  brilliant 
for  their  use  here  in  North  America,  but  for  an  early  realization  of  this  as  one  of  the 
very  important  purposes  of  Pan  American  reciprocity  it  is  for  us  Northern  Pan 
Americans  to  promote  the  northern  use  of  this  most  valuable  and  unique  item  of 
Pan  American  commerce  for  the  mutual  benefit  of  the  countries  concerned.  It  is 
only  thus  that  we  may  forestall  becoming  a  food-importing  country,  as  our  honored 
President  has  already  suggested,  as  a  possibility  of  the  not  very  distant  future. 

PAPER  OF  MR.  CAYETANO  ROMERO,  MEXICAN  CONSUL 
GENERAL  IN  NEW  YORK 

TRADE  RELATIONS  WITH  MEXICO. — Statistics  show  that  trade  between  the 
United  States  and  Mexico  has  considerably  increased  in  the  past  ten  or  fifteen  years, 
and  today  the  United  States  is  getting  a  respectable  share  of  the  import  business 
of  Mexico,  which  was  formerly  practically  controlled  by  England,  France  and 
Germany. 

FIELD  FOR  FUTURE  TRADE. — Mexico  still  offers  a  large  field  for  the  develop- 
ment of  business,  and  manufacturers  and  others  seeking  a  market  for  their  goods 
ought  to  study  the  advantages  the  market  affords  for  their  respective  line  of  goods. 
American  consuls  stationed  at  different  places  throughout  Mexico  are  enabled  to 
fully  acquaint  the  American  manufacturers  and  exporters  of  the  possibilities  of  trade 
in  the  different  markets  of  the  Republic. 

PROPAGANDA  OF  GOODS. — This  is  one  of  the  points  in  the  development  of  trade 
that  should  be  well  looked  into  and  studied,  especially  by  manufacturers  wishing  to 
introduce  their  goods  in  foreign  markets. 

There  are  many  ways  adapted  by  manufacturers  in  making  the  propaganda 
of  their  goods  in  foreign  fields,  but  the  great  mistake  made  by  a  great  many  of  them 
is  in  sending  out  their  catalogues  or  printed  matter  in  English  instead  of  Spanish. 
Cuts  and  illustrations  in  catalogues  are  good  as  far  as  they  go,  but  they  fail  to 
acquaint  the  prospective  purchaser  with  the  details  of  the  goods  offered,  and  the 
result  is  that  no  orders  are  derived  from  such  a  propaganda. 

It  is  sometimes  a  fact  that  manufacturers  seeking  export  trade  do  not  want 
to  make  the  investment  of  issuing  an  entirely  new  catalogue,  as  an  issue  of  certain 
kinds  of  catalogues  involves  a  large  expenditure;  but  at  the  same  time  it  should  be 
borne  in  mind,  as  stated  before,  that  catalogues  in  any  language  other  than  the  one 
spoken  in  the  country  where  the  catalogues  are  sent  to  will  never  bring  any  material 

278 


results  in  the  way  of  orders.  If  manufacturers  do  not  want  to  make  the  disburse- 
ment of  issuing  a  new  catalogue,  and  want  to  use  the  edition  they  already  have  out 
in  English  in  seeking  export  fields,  they  should  at  least  issue  a  supplement  in 
Spanish  to  that  catalogue,  and  in  this  supplement  incorporate  all  the  details  of  the 
articles  illustrated  in  the  English  catalogue,  as  well  as  prices,  weights,  etc.,  so  that 
in  sending  out  their  catalogue  along  with  the  Spanish  supplement  the  prospective 
purchaser  will  be  able  to  look  same  over  thoroughly  and  thus  ascertain  whether  or 
not  the  goods  therein  described  and  illustrated  in  the  English  catalogue  are  well 
adapted  to  his  needs.  A  supplement  of  this  kind  would  be  of  comparatively  small 
expense,  and  the  manufacturers  would  be  enabled  to  make  a  more  effective  propa- 
ganda of  their  goods,  with  far  better  results. 

ADVERTISING. — There  is  quite  a  number  of  export  journals  published  in  this 
country  that  claim  a  very  large  circulation  among  the  leading  merchants  and  busi- 
ness men  throughout  the  Latin  American  countries.  Of  such  publications  I  believe 
there  are  but  a  few  that  actually  accomplish  what  they  claim  in  the  way  of  pro- 
ducing results  for  their  advertisers. 

Manufacturers,  in  my  opinion,  should  study  out  the  best  method  of  advertising 
their  own  particular  line  of  goods,  as,  for  instance,  there  are  certain  lines  of  goods 
which  are  not  well  adapted  for  advertising  in  the  export  journals,  and  the  manu- 
facturers of  these  particular  lines  should  try  different  means  of  advertising  their 
goods,  as,  for  instance,  circulating  small  pamphlets  or  folders,  properly  gotten  up 
and  which  will  convey  to  the  reader  as  full  information  as  possible  regarding  the 
goods.  This  will  be  a  comparatively  small  expense  at  the  start  and  sufficient  to 
ascertain  what  demand,  if  any,  there  is  for  the  goods.  Another  point  should  not  be 
overlooked  by  any  manufacturer  wishing  to  export  his  goods  to  Mexico,  and  that  is 
to  ascertain  the  cost  of  transportation,  import  duties  and  other  shipping  charges 
which  the  purchaser  will  have  to  stand  for,  and  thus  ascertain  what  the  approximate 
cost  would  be  to  the  purchaser  for  the  goods  landed  at  their  final  destination.  This 
will  enable  the  manufacturer  to  quote  his  prices  accordingly,  and  it  might  be  the 
means  of  securing  more  orders. 

PACKING. — Poor  packing  has  been  the  cause  of  the  loss  of  a  great  many  orders 
to  manufacturers.  Any  manufacturer  really  desirous  of  preserving  his  export  trade 
should  make  it  a  point  to  give  his  particular  attention  to  the  packing  of  his  goods. 
As  a  rule,  the  manufacturer  seldom  sees  the  goods  when  they  leave  his  factory,  and 
most  likely  his  attention  to  other  matters  in  connection  with  his  business  prevent  him 
from  devoting  some  of  his  time  to  see  that  the  last  details  on  the  order  he  is  shipping 
are  properly  carried  out,  and  naturally  the  matter  has  to  be  left  entirely  in  the 
hands  of  his  shipping  clerk,  who,  as  good  as  he  may  be  as  regards  his  domestic 
packing,  it  is  often  found  out  that  shipping  clerks  pay  little  or  no  attention  to 
export  packing.  If  such  clerks  would  only  take  into  consideration  the  distances  the 
goods  have  to  travel  and  the  amount  of  rehandling  they  are  subjected  to,  they  would 
then  exercise  more  care  in  fitting  out  an  export  shipment. 

Actual  facts  have  shown  that  in  a  great  many  instances  goods  destined  for 
export  shipment  are  packed  in  cases  or  crates  that  would  not  even  hold  the  goods 
for  the  first  handling  without  breaking  apart,  and  still  the  shipping  department  of 
such  houses  allow  goods  to  leave  their  factory  practically  unprotected,  and  by  the 
time  they  reach  their  final  destination,  after  being  rehandled  perhaps  a  dozen  or 
more  times  (and  freight  handlers  are  not  diamond  cutters),  there  is  hardly  anything 
left  of  the  goods,  and  the  purchaser,  if  he  has  paid  in  advance  for  his  goods,  has  no 
redress  whatever,  as  the  manufacturer,  as  a  rule,  states  either  on  his  letterheads  or 
billheads  that  his  responsibility  ceases  when  goods  leave  his  factory  and  received  by 
the  transportation  company  in  "apparent  good  condition."  The  foregoing  statement 
happens  almost  every  day,  and,  in  my  opinion,  it  is  a  rather  detrimental  way  to 
handle  export  business. 

Another  point  that  manufacturers  should  bear  in  mind  is  the  way  in  which 
goods  of  different  nature  should  'be  packed  in  one  single  case,  as,  for  instance,  I 
have  seen  cases  where  a  customer  has  ordered  a  lot  of  different  goods  which,  by 
their  nature,  had  to  be  packed  all  in  one  single  case.  The  goods  in  question  had  to 
pay  different  rates  of  duty  upon  entering  the  custom-house  in  Mexico.  The  manu- 
facturer who  got  the  order  and  shipped  the  goods  simply  called  it  a  case  of  "photo- 
graphic material,"  while,  in  fact,  that  case  contained  photographic  goods  of  different 
kinds,  such  as  films,  plates,  paper,  cardboard,  liquids,  paste,  articles  of  iron  or  wood, 
etc.  The  result  of  such  a  way  of  packing  was  that,  as  the  declaration  on  the  consu- 
lar invoice  was  wrong,  the  custom-house  at  the  port  of  entry  in  Mexico  assessed  the 

279 


duty  on  the  whole  contents  of  the  case,  taking  as  a  basis  the  goods  therein  that  paid 
the  highest  rate  of  duty,  and  the  purchaser  had  thus  to  pay  perhaps  three  times  as 
much  as  he  should  have  paid  had  the  packing  and  shipment  been  made  right  the 
manufacturer  is  not  acquainted  with  the  customs  regulations,  and  a  shipment  of  the 
nature  referred  to  above  should  be  made,  it  would  always  be  well  for  the  manufac- 
turer to  weigh  each  and  every  one  of  the  articles  contained  in  that  case  and  specify 
their  kind  and  weight  on  the  consular  invoice,  and  thus  avoid  the  heavy  duties  which 
the  customer  has  to  pay  and  perhaps  a  heavy  fine  on  account  of  wrong  declaration. 

TARIFF  REGULATIONS.— The  tariff  regulations  of  Mexico  are  reasonable  and  the 
same  rate  of  duty  is  assessed  on  goods,  no  matter  where  they  come  from.  Duty  is 
assessed  on  gross,  net  and  legal  weights,  and  some  commodities  pay  according  to 
the  measurement. 

Manufactured  articles  consisting  of  two  or  more  materials  shall  pay  the  duty 
levied  on  the  material  predominating  in  quantity. 

By  legal  weight  is  meant  the  weight  of  the  goods,  together  with  that  of  their 
interior  packing,  such  as  wrappers,  receptacles,  cardboard  and  wooden  boxes,  tins, 
etc.,  inclosed  in  the  outer  packing  case  in  which  imported. 

By  net  weight  is  meant  the  actual  weight  of  the  goods  without  their  interior 
and  exterior  packing. 

When  goods  dutiable  on  legal  weight  are  not  inclosed  in  interior  packages, 
but  in  one  outside  inclosure  only,  the  intrinsic  weight  of  such  goods  will  be  consid- 
ered as  legal  weight.  In  establishing  the  legal  weight  no  account  will  be  taken  of 
straw  or  shavings  in  which  the  interior  packages  are  stowed  or  of  the  weight  of  the 
outside  inclosure. 

By  gross  weight  is  meant  the  weight  of  the  goods  with  all  their  outside  and 
inside  coverings,  without  deducting  the  netting,  straw  or  shavings,  hoops,  etc.,  used 
for  packing. 

When  a  package  contains  different  goods  dutiable  on  gross  weight  the  cus- 
toms shall,  conformably  to  Article  50  of  the  ordinances,  establish  the  rate  in  propor- 
tion to  the  legal  weight  attributed  to  each  kind  of  goods. 

Goods  dutiable  on  gross  weight  imported  without  any  kind  of  packing,  or 
packed  in  a  material  which  is  also  dutiable,  shall  pay  duty  on  the  total  weight  of 
the  goods. 

When  goods  imported  in  ordinary  receptacles  are  dutiable  on  net  weight,  on 
the  number,  or  according  to  measurement,  such  packages  shall  be  exempt  from 
import  duty. 

Should  such  goods  be  dutiable  according  to  legal  or  gross  weight,  the  ordinary 
packages  in  which  they  are  imported  shall  pay  the  same  duty  as  the  goods. 

When  industrial  machinery  or  apparatus  is  imported  with  accessories  exceed- 
ing in  quantity  the  actual  requirements,  such  accessories  being  classed  in  the  tariff, 
the  surplus  shall  be  dutiable  according  to  their  corresponding  numbers  in  the  tariff. 

The  above  are  but  a  few  points  of  the  tariff  regulations  of  Mexico  which  are 
well  to  mention. 

CREDITS. — The  branching  out  of  the  mercantile  agencies  of  this  country  into 
Mexico  has  placed  the  matter  of  credits  well  up  with  the  standard  requirements  as 
far  as  manufacturers  in  this  country  are  concerned,  but  it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind 
that  European  manufacturers  have  granted  and  are  still  granting  long  credits  to 
merchants  in  Mexico,  varying  from  30  days  to  six  months,  with  interest,  of  course, 
but  they  thus  facilitate  and  at  the  same  time  further  the  development  of  their  trade. 
There  are  hundreds  of  business  firm  in  Mexico  who  deserve  a  reasonable  amount  of 
credit  in  their  purchases,  but  very  few  American  manufacturers  are  willing  to  extend 
them  credit,  and  the  result  is  that  if  the  merchants  in  Mexico  must  have  American 
goods  they  have  to  pay  spot  cash  for  them,  and  will  naturally  only  order  such  goods 
as  they  actually  have  orders  for ;  but,  as  a  rule,  do  not  carry  the  goods  in  stock,  and 
if  they  do,  will  be  a  limited  amount,  as  that  means  so  much  of  their  capital  at  a 
standstill  without  even  getting  an  interest  on  same,  for  they  cannot  very  well  increase 
the  sale  price,  and  the  loss  is,  of  course,  on  the  profit  they  would  have  originally 
made  on  the  goods  had  they  sold  them  soon  after  their  arrival  at  their  store. 

This  is  one  of  the  main  reasons  why  many  merchants  in  Mexico  refrain  from 
placing  large  orders  for  goods  in  this  country,  as,  aside  from  the  amount  of  goods 
they  may  sell  soon  after  they  had  landed  at  their  store,  the  rest  means  so  much  of 
their  capital  tied  up,  and  more  so  when  they  have  to  pay  spot  cash  for  the  goods. 

BANKING  FACILITIES. — American  manufacturers  and  merchants  doing  business 
with  Mexico  can  today  finance  their  transactions  direct  through  the  many  banking 

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institutions  established  in  the  Republic.  There  are  still  many  instances  where  manu- 
facturers draw  their  drafts  on  Mexico  through  their  local  banks,  which,  in  turn,  have 
to  forward  said  draft  to  their  New  York  correspondents,  and  these,  in  turn,  forward 
the  draft  and  shipping  documents  to  their  Mexican  correspondents  for  collection. 

The  result  is,  that  if  the  shipment  in  question  should  be  such  that  would 
require  the  draft  and  shipping  documents  to  go  by  the  same  ship  carrying  the  goods, 
the  slow  process  of  putting  the  draft  through  for  its  collection  in  Mexico  will  cause 
the  goods  to  be  placed  in  storage  at  the  port  of  arrival  and  storage  charges  assessed 
on  the  purchaser.  This  could  be  avoided  by  placing  the  collections  direct  with  any 
of  the  banks  in  Mexico  nearer  the  place  where  the  purchaser  of  the  goods  may  be. 

Shipping  documents,  as  a  rule,  cannot  be  secured  from  the  transportation  com- 
panies until  the  day  before  the  sailing  of  the  steamer,  and  if  these  documents  have 
to  be  forwarded  to  a  manufacturer,  say,  in  Chicago  for  endorsement  and  making  out 
draft,  etc.,  it  is  obvious  to  state  the  time  such  documents  will  be  presented  to  the 
purchaser  for  payment. 

FREIGHT  RATES. — The  arrangement  of  through  freight  rates  from  points  irt  the 
United  States  to  points  in  Mexico  enables  American  manufacturers  to  ship  their 
goods  to  Mexico  at  very  reasonable  through  rates,  although  in  my  opinion,  in  a 
number  of  commodities,  such  rates  could  be  lower ;  however,  it  is  hoped  that  as  trade 
increases  steamship  companies  will  realize  the  necessity  of  arranging  a  working 
agreement  with  the  railroads  in  this  country  and  Mexico  by  which  lower  through 
rates  can  be  effected. 

STEAMSHIP  ROUTES. — Unhappily  we  find  that  there  are  comparatively  a  small 
number  of  steamship  lines  running  from  ports  in  the  United  States  to  Mexican  ports, 
although  the  amount  of  freight  leaving  this  country  for  Mexico,  especially  through 
the  port  of  New  York,  would  warrant  a  substantial  increase  in  the  steamship  traffic. 
It  is  a  fact  that  quite  a  large  quantity  of  freight  leaves  this  country  by  all-rail  routes, 
but  even  then  the  lack  of  more  steamers,  if  not  more  steamship  routes,  causes  some 
congestion  of  freight  at  the  steamship  piers,  resulting  in  holding  freight  over  for  the 
following  boat,  which  means  one  week  longer. 

GOODS  IMPORTED  BY  MEXICO. — Live  animals  of  several  kinds,  such  as 
horses,  cows,  pigs,  roosters,  etc. ;  fresh  meats,  canned  meats,  fish,  etc. ;  dry 
meats  and  fish,  fresh  fish,  wool  waste,  horse  hair,  whale  oil,  animal  greases, 
bone  in  the  rough,  scraped  and  in  powder;  wool  and  animal  hair,  pearls,  hides 
and  skins,  feathers,  eggs,  milk,  lard,  butter,  honey,  cheese,  animal  oils, 
animal  charcoal,  sponges,  stearine,  glycerine,  guano,  cod  liver  oil,  leather 
goods  of  all  kinds,  leather  belting,  cow's  hair  belting,  patent  and  other  leathers, 
gloves  of  all  kinds,  tanned  skins,  sole  leather,  shoes  of  all  kinds,  shoe  uppers,  boots, 
fans,  whale  bone  goods,  ivory  and  coral  goods,  human  hair  goods,  sperm,  stearine 
and  tallow  candles,  cotton,  twine  of  all  kinds,  silk  cotton  waste,  grains  and  seeds  of 
all  kinds,  almonds,  rice,  wheat,  coffee,  cinnamon,  barley,  cloves,  dry  fruits,  canned 
fruits,  corn,  medicinal  roots  and  seeds,  live  plants,  saffron,  rattan,  cork,  hops,  Vir- 
ginia tobacco,  tea,  olive  oil,  ordinary  sugar,  rock  candy,  refined  sugar,  roasted  coffee, 
candy  of  all  kinds,  starch,  crackers  of  all  kinds  and  biscuits,  flour,  molasses,  medicinal 
oils,  rosin,  balsams,  opium,  cocoanut  oil,  linseed  oil,  cottonseed  oil,  corn  oil,  essential 
oils,  turpentine,  vegetable  charcoal,  gum-arabic,  copal,  tragacanth,  tannin,  ordinary 
lumber  for  building  purposes,  dye  woods,  shooks,  manufactured  goods  made  of  wood 
of  all  kinds,  barrels,  kegs,  wooden  boxes,  furniture  of  all  kinds,  rattan  and  reed 
furniture  and  other  goods,  amber  goods,  cotton  cord  and  fiber  cord  of  all  kinds,  bags 
of  all  kinds,  straw  wrappers,  •  brooms,  cotton  wicks,  chewing  tobacco,  tobacco  in 
powder,  cigarettes,  cigars,  straw  braids,  gold,  silver  and  platinum,  jewelry  of  all 
kinds,  diamonds  and  precious  stones,  gold  leaf,  silver  leaf,  brass,  white  metal  in  pigs 
or  bars,  copper  in  pigs,  copper,  brass,  etc.,  in  sheets,  wire  of  all  kinds,  manufactured 
goods  of  copper,  brass,  and  white  metal,  copper,  brass  and  metal  cables,  plated 
jewelry  of  all  kinds,  bronze  powders,  tin  foil,  lead  and  antimony  in  pigs  and  bars, 
zinc  in  pigs,  manufactured  goods  of  zinc,  lead  and  tin,  of  all  lead  and  zinc  in  sheets, 
steel  in  bars  of  all  kinds,  plows  and  their  parts,  iron  barrels,  iron  piping  of  all  kinds, 
pig  iron,  iron  bars  of  all  kinds,  iron  and  steel  sheets,  steel  springs,  posts,  cross-pieces, 
etc.,  of  iron  and  steel,  iron  and  steel  rails  of  all  kinds,  fish  plates,  bolts,  nails,  etc., 
for  rails,  iron  and  steel  beams,  joint  plates  and  structural  iron  of  all  kinds,  wire 
goods  of  all  kinds,  iron  and  steel  goods  of  all  kinds,  goods  made  of  tin  of  all  kinds, 
iron  and  steel  goods  enameled,  tinned,  etc.,  iron  chains,  iron  stoves  for  all^  purposes, 
aluminum  in  powder  and  in  bars,  antimony,  sand,  sulphur,  lime,  hydraulic  lime,  Port- 
land cement,  coal,  marble,  mineral  stone  of  all  kinds,  plumbago,  mineral  oil,  tar, 

281 


vaseline,  earthenware  goods  of  all  kinds,  tiles  of  all  kinds,  bricks  of  all  kinds,  pen- 
cils of  all  kinds  sand  paper  of  all  kinds,  slates  for  schools  and  other  purposes,  glass- 
ware of  all  kinds  and  for  all  purposes,  mirrors,  eye  glasses,  chinaware  of  all  kinds 
•and  for  all  purposes,  glass  of  all  kinds  and  for  all  purposes,  cotton  cord  of  all  kinds, 
cotton  yarn  of  all  kinds,  cotton  lace  of  all  kinds,  cotton  goods  of  all  kinds  and  for  all 
purposes,  underwear  of  cotton,  silk,  linen,  etc.,  cotton  and  silk  hosiery,  comfortables 
of  all  kinds,  neckties  of  all  kinds,  corsets  of  all  kinds,  handkerchiefs  of  all  kinds, 
umbrellas,  collars,  cuffs,  shirts,  etc.,  of  all  kinds,  elastic,  ready-made  clothing  of  all 
kinds,  linen  laces  of  all  kinds,  curtains,  woolen  underwear  of  all  kinds,  silk  goods 
of  all  kinds,  acids  of  all  kinds,  aromatic  waters,  alcohol,  ammonia,  varnish,  paints, 
enamels,  etc.,  of  all  kinds,  drugs  and  medicinal  products  and  preparations  of  all 
kinds,  chemical  preparations  of  all  kinds,  cameras  and  supplies,  writing  ink,  pens, 
drawing  ink  and  drawing  materials  of  all  kinds,  wines  and  other  medicinal  prepara- 
tions, rum,  mineral  waters,  beer,  cider,  liquors,  vinrgar,  wines  of  all  kin<ls,  paper 
and  cardboard  of  all  kinds  and  for  all  purposes,  advertisements,  lithographs,  engrav- 
ings, etc.,  of  all  kinds;  books  in  blank,  printed,  of  all  kinds  and  for  all  purposes; 
music  in  sheets,  playing  cards,  paper  bags,  envelopes  of  all  kinds,  fire  extinguishers, 
duplicating  apparatuses,  instruments  and  apparatuses  for  the  sciences,  automatic  toys, 
electric  light  lamps  and  for  incandescent  light,  machines  of  all  kinds  for  industrial, 
agricultural,  mining  and  other  purposes ;  watch  movements  and  watches  of  all  kinds, 
clocks,  cars,  trucks,  wagons,  etc.,  of  all  kinds  and  for  all  purposes;  wheelbarrows 
of  all  kinds,  carriages  and  automobiles  of  all  kinds,  boats  and  steamboats  of  all 
kinds,  steamers,  rubber  goods  of  all  kinds  and  for  all  purposes,  firearms  of  all  kinds, 
cartridges,  dynamite,  gunpowder,  black  powder,  smokeless  powder,  mining  caps, 
manufactured  goods  of  all  kinds  and  for  all  purposes,  rubber  belting,  walking  canes, 
whips,  belts,  sieves  for  all  purposes,  pillows,  shades,  artificial  teeth,  dental  supplies 
of  all  kinds,  packing  of  all  kinds,  artificial  flowers,  tools  of  all  kinds  and  for  all 
purposes,  sanitary  goods  of  all  kinds,  plumbing  material  of  all  kinds,  soap  of  all 
kinds,  asbestos,  penholders,  printing  presses  and  printers'  supplies  of  all  kinds,  per- 
fumery, hats  of  all  kinds,  etc.,  etc. 

GOODS  EXPORTED  FROM  MEXICO. — Minerals,  gold,  silver,  sulphur,  antimony, 
mercury,  copper,  lead,  zinc,  asphalt,  coal,  plumbago,  salt  and  other  mineral  products ; 
garlic,  cotton  waste,  cotton  leaf,  rice,  coffee,  rubber,  vegetable  charcoal,  dry  cocoa- 
nuts,  oil  cocoanuts,  chewing  gum,  damiana,  essence  of  aloes,  natural  flowers,  beans, 
fresh  fruits,  chick-peas,  gums  and  rosins,  guayule,  henequen,  istle,  vegetables,  fire 
wood,  woods  of  all  kinds,  such  as  cedar,  ebony,  mahogany,  etc. ;  corn,  palm  for  hats, 
dye  woods,  potatoes,  live  plants,  seeds,  vanilla,  medicinal  herbs,  sarsaparilla  and  other 
vegetable  products ;  fertilizer,  shark  wings,  live  animals,  shrimps,  fresh  meat,  salted 
meat,  wax,  mother-of-pearl  shell,  all  kinds  of  shells,  horns,  sponges,  horses,  goats, 
sheep,  cows,  guano,  bones,  wool,  honey,  oysters,  animal  hair,  hides,  salted  fish,  silk 
waste,  oils  of  several  kinds,  sugar  cane,  rum,  jewelry,  sugar,  bottles,  paintings, 
chocolate,  drugs,  candies,  clay  goods,  photographs,  henequen.  soap,  books,  chinaware, 
maps,  building  materials,  furniture,  tanned  leather,  paints  in  powder  and  prepared, 
felt  hats,  straw  hats,  saddles,  tobacco,  cigars,  cigarettes,  wines,  canned  goods  of 
various  kinds,  etc.,  etc. 

PAPER  OF  MR.  ARTHUR  B.  BUTMAN,  EXPERT  ON  MARKET 
FOR  BOOTS  AND  SHOES  IN  LATIN  AMERICA 

I  accepted  the  invitation  of  the  Honorable  Director  General  to  discuss  the 
boot  and  shoe  trade  in  Latin  America  very  glady  because  of  my  deep  interest  in  the 
furtherance  of  this  trade,  yet  with  some  hesitancy  also,  because  in  my  published 
reports  the  subject  is  entered  upon  in  detail. 

Consequently  I  must  of  necessity  repeat  many  things  which  are  perhaps 
already  familiar  to  you. 

With  this  preliminary  statement  I  shall  venture  to  suggest  certain  important 
features  as  subjects,  with  the  intention  of  putting  before  you  such  matters  as  it 
seems  to  me  must  needs  be  of  vital  interest  to  all  shoe  and  leather  manufacturers, 
whether  contemplating  or  already  engaged  in  foreign  trade. 

I  suggest  the  following  subjects  for  consideration: 

i.  The  extent  and  character  of  the  home  production  in  various  Spanish  Ameri- 
can countries.  2.  The  import  trade  of  these  countries— its  past  valuation  and  present 
relative  position.  3.  (a)  The  demands  of  the  markets;  (b)  the  amount  and  char- 

282 


acter  of  competition  for  the  trade.    4.  How  American  trade  may  be  extended. 

Before  taking  up  the  various  topics  for  discussion  I  think  we  may  rightly 
mention  briefly  the  importance  and  remarkable  growth  of  the  shoe  and  leather  indus- 
tries in  the  United  States. 

Among  the  passengers  emigrating  to  America  on  the  "Mayflower"  in  1620  is 
recorded  the  name  of  Thomas  Beard  who  brought  with  him  a  supply  of  hides  and 
findings.  Thus  early  was  founded  the  industry  of  shoemaking  in  New  England. 
In  1639  the  tanning  industry,  according  to  systematic,  if  crude  methods,  was  estab- 
lished in  Salem,  Mass. ;  in  1640  at  Woburn,  and  at  an  early  date  also  in  Peabody — 
towns  of  the  same  State. 

That  the  growth  of  these  branches  of  industry  throughout  the  United  States 
has  been  a  wonderful  one  is  well  known  to  you  all. 

We  may  not  take  time  here  to  consider  the  development  from  the  days  of  the 
pilgrim,  Thomas  Beard,  who  doubtless  included  among  the  "findings"  brought  with 
him  on  the  "Mayflower"  a  "bench,  apron,  lapstone  and  hammer,  and  thread,"  and 
from  the  tanning  vat,  comprising  a  hole  in  the  ground,  with  its  water-tight  lining  of 
boards,  at  Salem,  or  when,  according  to  early  records,  leather  dressers  were  granted 
a  place  to  water  their  leather  at  the  creek  in  Boston,  to  the  modern  shoemaking 
machinery,  almost  human  in  its  operation,  and  the  modern  chrome  process  of  tanning. 

The  American  shoemaker  is  the  best  housed,  the  best  fed  and  the  best  paid  of 
any  shoemaker  in  the  world.  He  is  the  highest  specified,  and  with  the  aid  of  a  perfect 
system  of  machines  of  American  invention  and  manufacture  he  turns  out  a  product 
which  is  the  standard  of  excellence  for  'the  world. 

Mr.  Thomas  F.  Anderson,  the  able  secretary  of  the  New  England  Shoe  and 
Leather  Association,  in  a  recent  article  made  the  following  statement  in  reference 
to  the  growth  of  the  shoe  and  leather  industries:  "Save  for  the  story  of  the  mar- 
velous development  of  American  journalism,  there  is  no  industrial  narrative  that 
appeals  so  strongly  to  the  imagination  or  breathes  so  much  of  interest  and  inspira- 
tion." I  think  many  of  us  will  agree  with  Mr.  Anderson. 

Now  for  a  few  practical  figures  from  the  census  reports  of  1905. 

For  the  shoe  industry : 

Number  of  establishments 1316. 

Capital   $122,526,093. 

Wage-earners   • 149,924. 

Wages $69,059,680. 

Value  of  product $320,107,458. 

For  the  tanning  industry : 

Number  of  establishments 1049. 

Capital $242,584,254. 

Wage-earners   57>239- 

Wages    $27,049,152. 

Value  of  product $252,620,986. 

That  the  completed  census  for  1910  will  show  substantial  increases  over  these 
figures  is  without  question.  Past  comparisons  are  significant.  In  1890  the  capital 
invested  in  the  shoemaking  industry  was,  in  round  numbers,  $95,200,000;  in  1900, 
$99,800,000,  an  increase  of  4.8  per  cent,  during  the  decade;  in  1905,  as  just  stated, 
$122,500,000,  an  increase  of  22.7  per  cent,  during  the  five-year  period. 

The  value  of  the  product  in  1890  was  $220,600,000 ;  in  1900,  $258,900,000,  a  gain 
of  17.4  per  cent. ;  in  1905,  as  stated,  the  value  of  the  product  was  $320,107,458,  show- 
ing a  gain  of  23.6  per  cent,  in  five  years. 

Let  me  state  briefly  the  growth  of  our  export  trade,  after  which  we  will  take 
up  the  various  matters  for  discussion. 

In  1890  our  exports  of  boots  and  shoes,  in  round  numbers,  amounted  to  $662,- 
900;  in  1900,  $4,726,000,  and  in  1910,  $13,216,000. 

Turning  to  leather,  in  1890  our  exports  of  takined  and  finished  leather  amounted 
to  $12,439,000.  From  that  time  the  exports  have  grown  to  the  valuation  in  1910  of 
$53,512,000. 

Since  the  conditions  in  one  country  do  not  necessarily  prevail  in  another,  I 
would  suggest  that  questions  be  asked  on  the  various  republics  in  turn. 

The  Latin  American  countries  are  recognized  by  the  manufacturing  nations 

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of  the  world  as  potential  regions  for  foreign  commerce.  The  completion  of  the 
Panama  Canal  will  create  a  new  era  in  trade  among  these  republics,  whose  require- 
ments we  have  neglected  in  the  past  to  the  detriment  of  our  own  and  to  the  further- 
ance of  our  European  competitors'  interests. 

There  are  no  insurmountable  obstacles  to  be  encountered  in  dealing  with 
Spanish  American  trade. 

Two  facts  should  be  considered.  Perhaps,  first  of  all,  at  least  must  ever  be 
borne  in  mind,  are  that  the  seller  is  an  Anglo-Saxon,  the  buyer  a  Latin,  and  that, 
as  far  as  customs,  ideas,  business  methods,  etc.,  are  concerned,  the  two  races  are 
nearly  opposite. 

The  old-time  Spanish  courtesy  obtains  m  business  as  well  as  social  relations, 
and  the  short,  curt  business  letter  sometimes  sent  out  by  American  houses  does  not 
always  fit  the  Latin  American  idea,  however  much  it  may  be  preferred  between 
American  business  men. 

The  commercial  traveler  who  undertakes  to  sell  our  goods  in  Spanish  America 
should  not  only  speak  Spanish,  but  should  know  something  of  the  people,  their  cus- 
toms and  their  social,  as  well  as  business  ideas. 

The  fundamental  principles  of  selling  goods  in  the  countries  south  of  us  are 
not  different  from  those  in  our  own,  but  a  difference  lies  in  the  details  of  those  prin- 
ciples, which,  by  careful  study,  may  be  so  arranged  as  to  successfully  fulfil  all 
required  conditions  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  purchases  and  the  betterment  and 
enlargement  of  American  shoe  and  leather  interests. 

PAPER  OF  MR.  FRANK  WIBORG,  OF  AULT  &  WIBORG, 

CINCINNATI 

The  distinguished  gentlemen  who  spoke  from  the  platform  yesterday  and  the 
day  before  referred  to  our  American  methods  and  our  lack  of  adaptability  in  solicit- 
ing trade  among  the  Latin  people  of  the  South  American  Republics. 

This  is  all  true.    It  has  not  been  exaggerated. 

While  the  direct  straightforward  statements  practiced  by  our  business  men 
are  allowable  and  often  encouraged,  especially  to  despatch  business  in  our  country, 
they  seem  ungraceful  and  almost  uncouth  to  the  people  of  an  entirely  different 
temperament,  and  they  do  not,  and  cannot  from  their  viewpoint,  understand  it. 

In  line  with  this  I  should  like  to  quote  from  a  little  book  I  wrote  after  a  trip 
to  South  America  in  1905. 

However  casual  our  view  of  trade  conditions  in  South  America,  it  is  astonish- 
ing to  our  complacent  American  sense  of  business  supremacy  to  see  how  the  nations 
of  Europe — Great  Britain,  France  and  Germany — have  outdistanced  us  of  the 
United  States  right  on  our  own  western  hemisphere.  It  is  clear  enough  that  the 
European  markets  got  their  first  footing  in  South  America  at  a  period  when  all 
our  time  and  energies  were  employed  in  opening  up  the  resources  of  our  own  ex- 
panding country.  But  now  the  question  arises,  Why  in  more  recent  years  have  we  not 
bestirred  ourselves? 

It  would  be  foolish  to  assign  as  reason  for  this  the  manifest  and  the  manifold 
obstacles  which  at  present  stand  in  the  way  of  our  taking  a  more  commanding  place 
in  South  American  trade.  Without  doubt,  if  our  interest  had  been  truly  keen,  ways 
and  means  for  overcoming  these  obstacles  would  long  ago  have  been  devised,  as  they 
have  been  in  other  directions  where  it  has  seemed  desirable  for  us  to  push  out.  No 
more  time  would  now  be  lost  if  the  American  business  world  once  realized  to  its 
full  extent  the  growing  commercial  importance  of  South  America.  Not  only  would 
the  trade  that  already  exists  be  more  carefully  fostered,  but  means  for  creating  a 
demand  for  American  goods,  where  before  this  there  has  been  no  demand,  would 
be  searched  for  and  found — similar,  perhaps,  to  the  very  successful  methods  followed 
by  our  Government  in  demonstrating  at  the  Paris  Exposition  the  various  uses  of  our 
great  staple,  corn.  Brazil  herself  did  missionary  work  of  this  kind  in  St.  Louis  when 
she  taught  hundreds  and  hundreds«of  visitors  the  true  secret  of  making  coffee. 

Any  work  like  this  in  South  America  would  call  for  concerted  action  of  some 
sort  and,  perhaps,  the  aid  of  the  Government.  To  be  sure,  many  private  enterprises 
are  at  present  doing  what  they  can  in  this  direction.  The  results  they  obtain,  how- 
ever, are  slight  and  will  be  until  the  volume  of  effort  shall  somehow  be  greatly  in- 
creased. 

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After  speaking  thus  vaguely  of  the  obstacles  that  beset  our  path  to  South 
American  trade,  let  me  touch  upon  some  of  them  more  definitely.  To  better  our 
trade  relations  one  of  the  first  things  we  must  do  is  greatly  to  improve  and  increase 
the  present  facilities  in  lines  of  communication  and  transportation.  We  must  have 
our  own  carrying  vessels,  for  we  cannot  continue  forever  to  depend  upon  slow 
foreign  lines  if  we  are  to  equal,  to  say  nothing  of  surpassing,  the  promptness  of  the 
European  shipper.  The  steamship  lines  on  the  wrest  coast  stop,  as  I  have  described, 
like  local  trains  at  every  tiny  port  en  route,  and  the  one  fairly  good  line  between 
Rio  de  Janeiro  and  New  York  compares  in  no  way  with  the  first-class  Transatlantic 
lines.  Improved  service  has  been  promised  us  again  and  again,  but  what  American 
shippers  need  more  than  promises  are  American  ships  owned  and  managed  by 
American  capital.  Until  we  have  these  it  will  always  be  a  slow  and  difficult  matter 
for  orders  from  South  America  to  reach  us,  and  equally  as  slow  and  difficult  for  us 
to  fill  them. 

The  progress  of  American  trade  in  South  America  has  very  often  been 
hampered  by  the  class  of  representatives  that  we  have  sent.  A  smattering  of  Spanish 
or  Portuguese  does  not,  in  any  estimation,  make  up  for  incapacity  as  a  salesman  nor 
for  ignorance  of  the  products  in  hand.  In  choice  between  an  indifferent  salesman 
who  speaks  the  language  and  a  good  one  who  does  not,  I  should  advise  selecting 
the  good  salesman ;  "for  with  an  interpreter  he  could  do  better  work,  or  at  least  less 
harm,  than  the  other  man.  But  neither  Spanish  nor  Portuguese  are  difficult  languages 
to  acquire,  and  a  good  salesman  should  certainly  be  willing  to  add  to  his  efficiency  by 
a  little  hard  study.  A  man  starting  out  with  an  interpreter  and  studying  in  spare 
moments  should  in  three  months'  time  have  a  good  conversational  command  of  the 
language.  So  I  would  say  send  good  men  to  South  America,  even  if  they  can't  speak 
the  language,  and  encourage  them  to  study  it  as  they  would  anything  at  home  which 
was  distinctly  advantageous  to  their  business  careers. 

The  men  sent  to  South  America  should  not  expect  to  use  the  same  business 
methods  that  are  in  vogue  here.  The  American  salesman  believes  that  American 
business  methods  are  the  best  on  earth.  So  they  are — for  the  American.  But  the 
South  American  is  very  differently  constituted  from  the  American,  and  many  an  argu- 
ment that  sells  goods  in  Chicago  avails  nothing  in  Rio.  For  instance,  one  of  the 
prime  requisites  of  an  article  in  America  is  that  it  should  be  "up-to-date."  Now  this 
quality  of  "up-to-dateness"  appeals  to  the  South  American  buyer  very  little.  To 
something  entirely  new  he  much  prefers  what  he  has  been  accustomed  to  use.  Ger- 
man and  English  salesmen  understand  this  predjudice,  and  are  ready  to  humor  it 
rather  than  spend  their  time  and  energy  in  efforts  to  change  it.  Consequently  they 
very  often  succeed  where  the  American  salesman  fails. 

At  the  present  stage  of  our  business  relations  with  South  America  the  greatest 
care,  and  not  carelessness,  should  be  taken  in  the  matter  of  filling  orders.  The 
existing  predjudice  against  some  American  products  is  directly  traceable  to  this. 
Then  goods  should  be  packed  as  the  South  American  merchant  wishes  them,  even 
if  it  is  not  the  way  in  which  we  are  accustomed  to  pack  them.  And  if  he  prefers 
them  billed  in  kilos,  well  and  good;  let  them  be  billed  in  kilos,  and  in  whatever 
language  and  money  he  desires.  In  such  things  the  South  American  should  be  treated 
with  every  consideration,  since  he  is  the  buyer  and,  presumably,  the  man  who  meets 
the  charges.  All  this  is  thoroughly  understood  by  the  European  salesman,  and  should 
be  by  us.  Lastly,  I  would  suggest  that  more  heads  of  firms,  business  men  of  stand- 
ing in  their  various  lines,  visit  South  America  and  see  conditions  for  themselves. 
This  would  be  not  only  advantageous  to  them  in  conducting  the  South  American 
branches  of  their  business,  but,  what  is  of  greater  and  general  importance,  would 
prove  to  the  South  American  merchants  better  than  anything  else  could  prove,  that 
American  merchants  really  are  interested  in  South  American  trade  to  the  very 
considerable  extent  of  looking  into  it  personally.  The  prevailing  feeling  in  South 
America  is  that  we  care  very  little  for  South  America  or  South  American  trade. 
Europe,  on  the  other  hand,  protests  vehemently  that  she  cares  much,  and  by  her 
activity  she  proves  what  she  says.  Time  and  again  I  was  told  by  the  merchants  and 
business  men  whom  I  called  on  that  I  was  the  first  head  of  a  firm  in  my  particular 
business  who  had  ever  made  them  a  personal  visit.  Whether  this  was  accurately  true 
or  not  matters  little.  It  is  enough  that  it  shows  conclusively  the  impression  among 
South  Americans  that  American  heads  of  firms  are  prone  to  look  upon  South  Amer- 
ica as  a  negligible  quantity. 

But  South  America  is  not  a  negligible  quantity  by  any  means.  Now,  as  never 
before,  is  the  time  to  realize  this,  and  while  the  United  States  is  severing  the  con- 

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necting  tie  of  land  between  the  two  Americas,  American  business  men  should  be 
strengthening  those  other  and  closer  ties  of  commerce  and  trade. 

Now,  what's  to  be  done  about  it  ? 

It's  true,  we  have  made  progress  in  some,  if  not  many  ways  the  last  few 
years.  The  personal  relations  between  the  South  American  buyer  and  the  North 
American  seller  seem  to  be  improving,  because  we  know  each  other  better,  and  will 
continue  to  improve,  but  what  about  the  direct  steamship  lines  to  facilitate  trans- 
portation of  our  goods,  and  the  better  banking  facilities  to  enable  us  to  make  collec- 
tions, etc. 

When,  oh,  when  are  we  to  have  these?  Mr.  Barrett  cannot  do  it.  We  cannot 
do  it,  but  we  can  keep  everlastingly  talking  about  it,  until  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  perhaps  the  next  Congress,  comes  to  a  realizing  sense  of  its  importance  and 
passes  the  necessary  legislation.  That  will  be  a  happy  day  for  all  interested  in  im- 
proved South  American  Commercial  relations. 

PAPER  OF  MR.  CLIFFORD  S.  WALTON, 
CONSUL  GENERAL  OF  PARAGUAY 

It  gives  me  much  pleasure  to  have  an  opportunity  to  say  a  few  words  about 
Paraguay. 

Possessed  of  an  equable  and  salubrious  climate  where  operations  may  be 
carried  on  the  year  round,  this  virgin  country  offers  many  inducements  to  nearly 
all  lines  of  manufacturers,  to  agriculturists,  stock  raisers,  miners  and  timber  mer- 
chants. 

Cheap  and  easy  methods  of  transportation  are  furnished  by  the  Parana  River 
and  its  tributaries,  which  traverse  the  country,  and  its  lines  of  railway  are  being 
changed  to  broad  gauge  and  developed  to  complete  a  chain  of  overland  communica- 
tion with  Argentina,  Bolivia  and  Chile. 

Formerly  Montevideo  and  Buenos  Aires  had  the  monopoly  oi  Paraguay's 
trade,  but  now  the  latter  Republic  has  direct  commercial  relations  with  Europe  and 
North  America. 

The  annual  exports  of  Paraguay  are  about  as   follows : 

(a.)  Products  of  the  cattle  industry:  Hides,  310,000;  skins,  25,000;  jerked 
beef  3,000.000  kilos;  fat,  700,000  kilos;  hair,  125,000;  bones,  1,250,000  kilos;  horns, 
510,000;  grease,  80,000  kilos,  etc.,  valued  at  $2,100,000  in  gold. 

(b.)  Forest  products:  Hard  and  sawed  wood,  2,100,000  meters;  oranges, 
110,000,000;  cedar,  400,000  logs;  palms,  21,000;  poles,  200,000;  blocks  of  quebracho, 
725,000;  medicinal  leaves,  25,000  kilos;  600,000  bundles  of  sticks;  22,000  meters  of 
boards;  300,000  kilos  of  durupay  bark;  cocoanut  beans,  150,000  kilos,  etc.,  valued  at 
$1,525,000  in  gold. 

(c.)  'Distillation  and  plant  industries:  Yerba  mate,  8,100,000  kilos;  extract 
of  quebracho,  5,100,000  kilos ;  orange  essence,  30,000  kilos ;  rum,  12,000  liters ;  char- 
coal, 100,000  kilos ;  cocoanut  and  peanut  forage,  200,000  kilos,  etc.,  valued  at  $2,050,000 
in  gold. 

(d.)  Agricultural  products:  Tobacco,  3,500,000  kilos;  bananas,  7,000  bunches; 
mates,  120,000;  plants,  10,000.  Valued  at  $1,000,000  in  gold. 

Imports.  The  following  are  the  principal  articles  which  Paraguay  receives 
from  abroad :  Fabrics,  hardware,  drugs,  dry-goods,  foodstuffs,  hats,  arms,  ready- 
made  clothes,  beverages,  leather  and  furs,  earthenware,  porcelain,  glass,  perfumery, 
lamps,  bric-a-brac,  books,  stationery,  musical  instruments,  jewels,  watches,  saddlery, 
footwear,  etc.,  valued  at  about  $5,000,000  in  gold. 

The  articles  imported  free  of  duty  were  valued  at  400,000  pesos  yearly.  The 
following  articles  are  also  included  in  the  free  list,  subject  to  changes  from  time  to 
time:  Agricultural  machinery,  apparatus  and  implements,  seeds,  coal,  iron  bars, 
printed  matter,  books,  typographical  articles,  scientific  instruments,  articles  for 
worship,  rosins,  soda,  etc.,  etc. 

The  imported  merchandise  proceeded  from  the  following  countries :  England, 
35  per  cent,  followed  by  Germany,  the  Argentine  Republic,  France,  Italy,  Spain, 
United  States  of  North  America,  Belgium.  Brazil,  Uruguay,  and  many  other  countries 
on  a  smaller  scale. 

The  constitution,  which  has  been  in  force  since  the  25th  of  November,  1870, 
grants  all  the  inhabitants  of  Paraguay,  both  native  and  foreigners,  the  fullest  in- 

286 


dividual  rights,  electoral,  industrial,  professional  and  commercial  liberty,  freedom  of 
speech,  of  the  press,  of  association,  worship,  protection  of  life  and  properties,  as  well 
as  of  domicile,  and  the  right  of  defense  in  court,  inviolability  of  the  mails,  private 
papers,  etc.. 

The  constitution  of  Paraguay  has  been  drafted  in  accordance  with  the  most 
advanced  ideas  of  progress  and  enlightenment  of  man  in  a  free  country 

As  a  whole  the  climate  of  Paraguay  is  dry  and  warm,  without  the  epidemics 
that  prevail  in  Brazil,  Africa  and  India.  The  meteorological  observations  during 
many  years  indicate  an  average  annual  temperature  of  24  degrees  centigrade ;  in 
summer  30  degrees,  and  in  winter,  15;  the  maximum  temperature  during  the  day- 
time occurs  from  2  to  3  o'clock,  P.  M.,  and  the  minimum  two  hours  before  sunrise. 

There  is  quite  a  difference  between  the  two  principal  seasons  of  the  year.  The 
hottest  months  are  December,  January  and  February,  while  the  coldest  are  June,  July 
and  August. 

The  annual  average  is  79  rainy,  72  cloudy  and  214  clear  days. 

In  tropical  countries  the  rain  is  influenced  by  the  movement  of  the  sun.  When 
the  latter  is  north  of  the  equator,  the  rainy  season  prevails  at  the  Northern  tropical 
zone,  and  when  the  sun  passes  to  the  south  of  the  equinoctial  line,  heavy  rains  fall  in 
the  Southern  tropical  zone. 

From  a  hygienic  point  of  view,  Paraguay  has  become  the  sanitarium  of  Rio 
de  la  Plata,  in  the  American  Nice,  because  of  its  excellent  sanitary  conditions,  es- 
pecially from  March  to  November,  and  thousands  of  families  from  the  Argentine 
Republic  and  Uruguay  go  there  every  year,  for  their  health. 

There  are  no  malignant  endemic  diseases  in  Paraguay,  and  epidemical  diseases 
are  even  more  rare  than  in  Europe.  A  greater  longevity  and  a  low  propor- 
tion of  mortality  confirm  the  above  statement.  Azara  and  other  writers  have  men- 
tioned .real  cases  of  exceptional  longevity  in  Paraguay.  The  disease  of  the  lungs  and 
the  respiratory  organs  are  greatly  relieved  in  Paraguay.  Cases  of  sunstroke  are 
very  rare.  The  proportion  of  births  and  deaths  is  10  to  6.  The  sanitary  and  health 
conditions  of  the  climate  of  Paraguay  are  explained  by  the  excellent  ventilation  of 
the  territory,  which  is  covered  by  virgin  forests,  crossed  by  great  rivers,  with  moun- 
tains to  the  northeast,  being  open  on  the  south  and  thus  having  a  permanent  evapora- 
tion. 

The  southwest  winds  have  lost  a  great  deal  of  their  violence  in  Paraguay, 
producing  a  beneficial  effect  without  the  ravages  which  they  generally  cause  at  Rio 
de  la  Plata. 

The  greater  number  of  deaths  are  caused  by  gastric  diseases,  infantile  tetanus, 
traumatism,  cerebro-spinal  fevers,  pneumonia  and  enteritis. 

The  relatively  small  population,  the  low  prices  at  which  lands  can  be  bought, 
the  fertility  of  the  latter,  the  great  demand  for  laborers  for  agricultural,  industrial 
and  pastoral  work,  the  healthful  climate,  the  guarantee  of  life  and  property  by  the 
laws  and  courts  of  the  Republic,  the  freedom  to  contract  and  work,  the  moderate 
taxes,  easy  fluvial  and  land  means  of  communication,  both  with  the  interior  of  the 
country  and  with  foreign  nations,  render  it  possible  for  the  Republic  of  Paraguay 
to  offer  greater  advantages  to  immigrants  and  colonists  than  other  countries. 

The  special  products  of  Paraguay  find  a  permanent  market  in  Rio  de  la  Plata, 
where  there  are  no  similar  products  and  where  they  can  be  economically  transported. 

It  is  gratifying  to  find  that  many  persons  in  this  country  are  taking  a  live  inter- 
est in  far-away  Paraguay,  which  seems  to  have  been  neglected  up  to  the  present  time.  I 
feel  that  if  such  persons  will  continue  their  investigations,  they  will  find  here  in  the 
center  of  South  America  great  opportunities  for  the  investment  of  capital  which 
should  bring  in  splendid  returns,  and  I  am  sure  if  they  could  visit  this  country  and 
make  personal  investigations  for  themselves,  they  would  become  enthusiastic  over  the 
advantages  offered  them  by  a  virgin  country,  rich  in  resources,  and  the  reception 
which  the  citizens  of  the  country  offer  to  them. 

PAPER  OF  MR.  JOSEPH  DARLING, 
LATIN  AMERICAN  EXPERT 

First  of  all,  I  must  thank  the  Director  General  for  extending  to  me  the  privi- 
lege of  addressing  you  on  a  subject  very  dear  to  my  heart.  The  task  is  not  an  easy 
one,  as  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  accurate  information  as  to  the  best  modes  and 
routes  of  travel  to  the  commercial  centers  throughout  the  Central  and  South  Ameri- 

287 


can  countries  has  been  one  of  the  reasons  why  American  merchants,  referring  par- 
ticularly to  those  of  the  United  States,  have  hesitated  in  arranging  to  send  their 
representatives  to  this  fertile  field  of  trade. 

It  is  erroneously  supposed  that  the  expense  incident  to  such  a  trip  would 
be  greater  than  that  of  a  similar  trip  conducted  throughout  the  United  States.  My 
experience  has  extended  over  a  period  of  ten  years,  making  during  that  time  more 
than  twenty-five  trips  throughout  ten  of  the  Central  and  South  American  Republics, 
principally  in  the  interests  of  oil,  bananas  and  rubber  and  railroad  construction. 

*I  have  estimated  that  the  sum  of  from  $5  to  $7  per  day  will  be  sufficient  for 
all  ordinary  expenses,  including  railroad  and  steamship  fare,  but  it  is  supposed  that 
the  traveler  will  carry  little  luggage  and  will  avoid  being  overcharged.  Of  course 
a  knowledge  of  the  language  spoken  in  these  countries  will  help  in  keeping  down 
expenses.  Sample  trunks  taken  on  a  prolongd  trip  throughout  the  Latin  American 
Republics  should  not  weigh  more  than  125  pounds,  and  it  is  recommended  that  not 
more  than  100  pounds  be  carried  on  excursions  taken  into  the  interior  by  the  aid  of 
mules,  donkeys  or  llamas. 

The  best  season  of  the  year  to  visit  the  west  coast  of  South  America  is 
during  our  spring  and  summer  months,  for  it  is  then  warm  during  the  day  and  cool 
at  night.  It  may  be  generally  stated  that  the  seacoast  sections  of  the  countries  near 
the  Equator  are  generally  unhealthful,  but  the  interior  cities,  as  a  rule,  present  the 
most  favorable  climatic  conditions.  Travelers  who  contemplate  entering  the  higher 
latitudes  should  take  the  precaution  to  be  well  supplied  with  heavy  clothing,  and 
should  be  prepared  to  suffer  from  soroche,  the  mountain  sickness,  when  they  pass  a 
height  of  eight  thousand  feet.  The  incidental  unpleasantness  of  this  sickness  dis- 
appears within  a  few  days. 

As  a  general  statement,  it  can  be  said  that  sanitary  conditions  are  good  in  the 
larger  cities,  but  in  some  of  the  smaller  ones  much  improvement  could  be  effected 
along  these  lines.  The  food  is  well  cooked  and  very  palatable. 

The  native  merchants  of  these  countries  are  always  polite  and  their  courtesy 
to  the  foreigner  is  proverbial.  Such  consideration  for  the  stranger  is  found,  not  only 
among  the  higher  and  more  cultivated,  but  also  in  the  people  of  the  poorer  classes. 
We  hear  a  great  deal  through  the  newspapers  of  the  revolution  or  internal  strife 
that  occasionally  takes  place,  but  I  wish  to  state  that  these  people  are,  as  a  rule, 
peaceful,  and  the  traveler  should  have  no  fear  of  being  molested  as  long  as  he  goes 
about  his  own  business  and  does  not  involve  himself  in  local  political  antagonisms. 

There  has  been  considerable  improvement  in  the  steamship  service  to  these 
countries  from  the  United  States,  and  excepting  the  service  along  the  east  coast  of 
Central  America,  we  are  still  a  long  ways  behind  our  European  competitors  in  this 
matter.  A  steamer  or  sailing  ship  flying  the  flag  of  the  United  States  is  a  very  rare 
sight  to  be  found  in  the  far  south,  and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  we  have  not  any 
better  communication  direct  with  South  America  or  the  west  coast  of  Central 
America. 

The  present  period  offers  more  opportunities  than  ever  before  to  our  mer- 
chants for  the  development  and  encouragement  of  trade  relations.  Merchants  and 
manufacturers  have  been  slow  to  arrive  at  a  proper  appreciation  of  this  rich 
field  for  the  introduction  of  their  goods,  and  it  is  only  recently  that  they  are  begin- 
ning to  understand  the  value  and  importance  of  these  markets.  Naturally,  the 
merchant  of  Latin  America  will  trade  with  those  countries  which  offer  him  the  most 
favorable  terms  and  the  best  articles.  The  European  merchant  has  some  advantages 
in  dealing  with  these  Latin  American  Republics  because  of  superior  transportation 
facilities.  Again,  the  high  freight  rates  charged  by  the  Panama  Railroad  Company 
have  been  a  serious  obstacle  confronting  American  exporters,  and  I  have  been 
informed  that  certain  lines  operating  out  of  New  York  have  combined  to  keep  up 
freight  rates  to  the  west  coast  of  South  and  Central  America  via  the  Panama  Canal. 

Owing  to  our  favorable  geographical  position,  and  other  circumstances,  we  do 
a  larger  business  with  Mexico,  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico,  but  we  also  enjoy  the  advan- 
tage of  geographical  situation  as  compared  with  Europe,  so  there  is  every  reason  why 
the  merchants  of  the  United  States  should  compete  successfully  with  the  European 
for  the  Latin  American  market. 

^  It  is  the  general  idea  with  our  manufacturers  that  difficulties  are  to  be  met 
with  in  obtaining  payments  for  goods  sent  into  Central  and  South  America,  but  this 
is  incorrect,  as  the  firms  of  high  standing  in  these  countries  are  as  honorable  in 

"This  should  be  doubled  if  one  goes  first-class.— ED. 

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settling  their  commercial  obligations  as  their  brothers  of  the  United  States.  It 
is  unfortunate  for  us  all  that  reliable  foreign  reports  of  the  commercial  standing  of 
merchants  are  harder,  more  expensive  and  sometimes  impossible  to  obtain  than  those 
of  the  United  States.  It  should  be  remembered  that  it  is  the  custom  with  European 
houses  dealing  in  Central  and  South  America  to  extend  longer  terms  of  credit  than 
would  seem  necessary  to  an  American,  but  the  reason  for  this  is  that  deferred  pay- 
ments draw  interest  at  an  average  of  five  per  cent,  per  annum,  which  is  higher  than 
the  usual  rate  obtained  for  money  abroad.  Business  of  this  character  will  be  greatly 
facilitated  when  the  proposed  Pan  American  Bank  is  established,  with  its  branches 
and  correspondents  situated  in  the  principal  cities  of  Central  and  South  America; 
this  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  us  all,  as  at  present  sterling  exchange  is  used 
exclusively  by  nearly  all  of  the  merchants  of  these  countries. 

The  usual  method  of  arranging  for  goods  shipped  to  Latin  America  is  that  of 
making  a  draft  in  duplicate,  with  a  bill  of  lading,  freight  bill  and  consular  docu- 
ments attached,  and  negotiating  this  bill  through  some  banking  institution. 

In  conclusion,  it  can  be  said  that  these  countries  present  great  opportunities 
for  the  introduction  of  all  kinds  of  American  (United  States)  goods,  and  prices 
obtained  therein  will  provide  sufficient  profit  to  fully  compensate  for  the  extra 
expense  incidental  to  complying  with  the  extraordinary  conditions  in  their  local 
markets,  and  I  wish  to  impress  upon  your  minds,  gentlemen,  who  are  interested  in 
this  work,  to  study  the  methods  of  shipping  and  packing  merchandise  as  practiced 
by  our  rivals  across  the  sea. 

I  heartily  endorse  the  work  of  the  Pan  American  Union  so  ably  managed  by 
its  Director  General,  and  I  can  thank  him  for  the  courtesies  and  co-operation  ex- 
tended to  me  during  my  various  trips  as  a  commercial  man  throughout  those  beau- 
tiful southern  Republics. 

Thanking  you  fof  your  attention. 

PAPER  ON  THE  REPUBLIC  OF  SALVADOR,  BY  DOCTOR 
ALBERT  HALE,  PAN  AMERICAN  UNION  STAFF 

The  Republic  of  Salvador  has  the  unique  distinction  of  being  not  only  the 
smallest  independent  nation  in  the  western  hemisphere,  but  also  the  most  densely 
populated,  as  its  area  of  7225  square  miles  is  occupied  by  1,707,000  inhabitants,  prac- 
tically eight  times  the  density  of  the  population  of  the  United  States.  It  is,  there, 
fore,  well  worth  while  to  call  the  attention  of  such  a  large  and  representative  gather- 
ing as  the  Pan  American  Commercial  Conference  to  the  opportunities  presented 
in  this  delightful  little  Republic. 

The  very  fact  of  such  an  extensive  population  indicates  that  their  wants  must 
be  proportionately  large,  and  the  added  fact  that  the  people  are  active  and  energetic, 
producing  with  admirable  industry  from  the  fertile  country  in  which  they  live,  indi- 
cates that  their  consuming  power  must  be  considerable.  Their  cvants  are  fully  up 
to  the  grade  of  those  of  any  highly  advanced  people,  and  as  they  become  more  closely 
in  touch  with  the  rest  of  the  producing  and  consuming  world,  they  will  sell  and 
buy  more. 

One  reason  why  Salvador  has  hitherto  escaped  to  some  extent  the  notice  to 
which  the  country  is  entitled  has  been  its  apparent  isolation  and  inaccessibility. 
Lying  the  farthest  away,  as  far  as  means  of  approach  are  concerned  from  the  United 
States,  with  lines  of  commercial  travel  limited  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  the  Republic  has 
been  shut  off  from  all  traffic  except  that  which  came  southward  by  steamers  from 
San  Francisco,  or  northward  by  steamer  from  Panama  or  even  from  Europe  around 
the  Horn. 

This  remoteness  has,  however,  been  overcome  within  the  last  two  years.  Since 
the  completion  of  the  Tehuantepec  Railway,  and  the  consequent  improvement  in 
transportation  through  Mexico,  the  distance  between  San  Salvador,  the  capital  of 
the  Republic,  and  Washington,  which  means,  of  course,  all  the  United  States,  has 
been  remarkably  shortened.  It  is  now  possible,  by  using  the  express  service  to  the 
City  of  Mexico,  then  that  to  Salina  Cruz  at  the  Pacific  end  of  the  Tehuantepec  Rail- 
way, and  then  the  fast  steamers  supported  in  part  by  the  Salvador  Government,  from 
Salina  Cruz  to  Acajutla,  the  chief  port  of  entry  in  the  Republic,  to  make  the  trip, 
or  to  send  letters  or  even  merchandise,  from  Washington  to  San  Salvador  in  the 
short  space  of  eight  days,  whereas  before  this  arrangement  was  made  22  days  or 
more  was  the  least  time  necessary  for  the  same  distance.  But  this  by  no  means 

289 


indicates  all  of  the  possibilities  of  rapid  transit.  Salvador  is  ambitiously  expanding 
the  system  of  interior  railways.  At  present  100  miles  covers  about  all  of  the  lines  in 
operation.  But  there  is  building  a  railway  from  the  eastern  port  of  La  Union  to 
San  Miguel,  a  flourishing  interior  city  of  the  Republic ;  this  will  soon  be  extended 
across  the  country  to  the  frontier  of  Guatemala,  and  from  this  frontier  easy  connec- 
tion can  be  made  with  that  railway,  which  has  recently  placed  the  city  of  Guatemala 
within  12  hours  of  the  east  coast.  These  improvements,  when  completed,  will 
shorten  still  more  the  trip  from  the  United  States,  and  will  bring  all  this  little 
Republic  within  a  week's  travel  of  the  centers  of  business  in  America. 

The  products  of  Salvador  are  those  in  constant  demand  by  the  United  States ; 
coffee,  balsam,  indigo,  sugar,  tobacco,  hides  and  rubber,  as  well  as  gold  and  silver, 
are  exported.  As  imports,  cotton  in  manufactured  forms,  flour,  hardware  and  all 
kinds  of  clothing  and  machinery  are  staples.  There  is  excellent  opportunity  for 
an  exchange  of  commodities,  and  all  that  is  needed  is  a  closer  acquaintance  on  both 
sides  to  bring  the  two  Republics  into  quicker  and  more  cordial  intimacy. 

These  are  the  simple  and  promising  conditions  as  they  exist  today,  and  I  can 
assure  you,  gentlemen,  that  Salvador  offers  a  surprisingly  open  field  for  those  who 
study  it.  My  personal  experiences  in  the  Republic,  which  I  have  crossed  from  end 
to  end,  make  me  confident  in  the  assertion  that  the  country  and  the  people  will  wel- 
come every  effort  made  for  them  to  enter  into  larger  trade  relations  with  you  who 
represent  the  ambitious  factors  of  commercial  America. 

PAPER  OF  MR.   GUILLERMO  MONCADA,  CONSUL-GENERAL 
OF  HONDURAS  IN  NEW  YORK 

The  Republic  of  Honduras  is  situated  between  13°  and  16°  10'  north  latitude 
and  83°  15'  and  89°  30'  west  of  the  meridian  of  Greenwich,  with  an  area  of  45,000 
square  miles.  Located  in  the  middle  of  Central  America,  its  territory  bounds  with 
the  Caribbean  Sea  to  the  north,  Nicaragua  and  the  Pacific  Ocean  to  the  south,  and 
Salvador  and  Guatemala  to  the  west.  Its  coast  line  on  the  Caribbean  extends  over 
600  kilometers,  with  many  bays  and  inlets.  The  Pacific  coast  measures  over  85 
kilometers,  forming  the  Gulf  of  Fonseca,  which  is  one  of  the  best  bays  in  America 
on  the  Pacific.  The  population  of  the  country  is  estimated  at  600,000  inhabitants, 
and  after  the  result  of  the  census  taken  on  November  18,  1909,  is  known,  an  increase 
will  probably  be  shown. 

The  general  topography  of  the  country  is  mountainous,  presenting  at  the 
same  time  extensive  valleys  and  highlands,  crossed  by  many  rivers,  some  of  which 
are  navigable.  The  climate  is  splendid.  In  the  highlands  it  varies  between  5°  and 
15°  centigrade,  and  in  the  valleys  and  coasts  it  never  goes  any  higher  than  30° 
centigrade.  The  temperature  is  generally  mild,  and  never  too  cold  nor  too  hot. 

The  great  fertility  of  the  lands,  due  to  the  richness  of  the  soil  and  to  the 
abundance  of  water,  renders  any  cultivation  profitable.  The  principal  products  arc 
bananas,  coffee,  cacao,  cocoanuts,  corn,  beans,  oranges,  rice  and  all  tropical  fruits. 

The  mineral  wealth  of  Honduras  places  the  Republic  among  one  of  the  first 
countries  of  America,  and  although  most  of  it  is  as  yet  unexploited,  the  present  out- 
put shows  that,  when  mining  shall  have  been  developed,  it  will  be  one  of  the  principal 
industries  of  the  country.  In  the  rivers  and  ravines  gold  dust  is  found  in  large 
quantities,  but  the  methods  used  in  its  extraction  are  primitive,  in  spite  of  which 
fact,  the  production  has  been  great,  yielding  big  profits  to  miners.  Gold  and  silver, 
being  the  most  valuable  metals,  are  preferred  over  others,  and  are  widely  searched 
for,  the  former  being  abundant  in  the  mountain  region  of  the  country.  There  are 
also  vast  deposits  of  copper  and  iron,  which,  on  account  of  the  lack  of  transportation 
facilities,  remain  unexploited.  Copper  ore  yields  as  a  rule  from  50  to  60  per  cent., 
and  iron  ore  is  found  which  produces  90  per  cent.,  as  is  the  case  with  that  from  the 
mines  of  Agalteca  and  San  Martin,  situate  in  the  Departments  of  Tegucigalpa  and 
Choluteca,  respectively,  where  the  ore  is  found  on  the  surface  throughout  several 
square  miles.  There  are  also  deposits  of  bismuth,  antimony,  platinum,  manganese, 
etc.,  etc.,  which  have  not  as  yet  attracted  any  attention.  Precious  stones  are  also 
abundant  in  the  Republic.  The  opal  mines  recently  discovered  are  producing  mag- 
nificent stones.  Great  deposits  of  coal  have  recently  been  discovered,  which  will  be  a 
new  source  of  wealth. 

Agriculture  is  in  a  very  flourishing  condition  in  the  northern  section  of  the  coun- 
try, where  the  banana  is  cultivated  with  excellent  results.  In  this  connection  it  is  worth 

290 


mentioning  that  the  output  of  bananas  per  acre  in  Honduras  is  greater  than  in  any 
other  country.  The  proximity  of  the  northern  coast  to  the  United  States — the  dis- 
tance from  La  Ceiba,  Puerto  Cortes  and  Trujillo  to  New  Orleans  and  Mobile  being 
only  930  miles — facilitates  the  shipment  of  all  sorts  of  merchandise.  It  should  be 
pointed  out  that  the  bays  and  wharfs  of  those  ports  afford  ample  protection  to  ves- 
sels and  are  equipped  with  all  necessary  elements  for  the  loading  and  unloading  of 
cargo.  The  bays  of  the  northern  coast  of  Honduras  are  considered  among  the  best 
and  safest  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Caribbean  Sea. 

In  Honduras  one  of  uppermost  aims  of  all  the  administrations  has  been  to 
protect  the  industries  by  means  of  adequate  laws,  the  provisions  of  which  have  been 
as  favorable  as  possible  to  the  persons  therein  engaged.  The  acquisition  of  all  kinds 
of  property  is  extremely  easy,  and  the  disposal  thereof  is  absolutely  free  from  restric- 
tions. Mining  properties  may  be  secured  by  the  mere  filing  of  claims  with  the  depart- 
mental and  sectional  courts,  provided  each  claim  doe.s  not  exceed  a  certain  number 
of  hectares.  In  order  to  protect  and  promote  the  working  of  mines  on  a  large  scale, 
mining  zones  have  been  established,  where  one  can  secure  the  exclusive  privilege  of 
exploitation  of  a  tract  of  land  after  having  obtained  a  concession  from  the  Govern- 
ment and  by  paying  a  small  annual  tax.  The  maximum  allowed  to  each  person  is 
1000  hectares.  The  Government  also  grants  agricultural  lands  exempt  from  taxes, 
and  after  the  parcel  thus  granted  has  been  duly  cultivated  it  is  definitely  deeded  to 
the  concessionaire.  All  machinery  and  utensils  used  in  any  kind  of  industry  are 
exempt  from  customs  and  other  taxes. 

The  import  and  export  trade  of  the 'Republic  during  1909-10  was  as  follows, 
in  Hpndurean  currency  (i  peso —  $0.42  American  gold)  :  Exports,  6,429,700.17  pesos, 
and  imports  4,313,452.00  pesos,  showing  a  considerable  increase  over  previous  years, 
notwithstanding  the  political  condition  through  which  the  country  has  passed.  The 
greater  part  of  the  trade  is  carried  on  with  the  United  States,  which  supply  65  per 
cent,  of  the  imports  and  buy  80  per  cent,  of  the  exports. 

During  the  last  year  negotiations  were  carried  on  with  good  success  for  the 
conversion  of  the  public  debt  of  Honduras,  and  the  arrangement  between  the  Govern- 
ment and  American  capitalists  is  almost  concluded.  The  money  derived  from  this 
loan  will  be  used  not  only  in  the  payment  of  the  foreign  and  internal  debts,  but  also 
in  the  construction  of  railroads.  When  this  agreement  shall  have  been  approved  the 
country  will  enter  upon  an  era  of  stable  peace  and  prosperity,  and  it  will  throw  its 
doors  open  to  foreign  capital  and  immigration ;  these  two  factors  and  the  opening  of 
new  means  of  communication  will  make  the  country  an  emporium  of  wealth  and 
welfare. 

It  may  be  affirmed  that  Honduras  is  completely  unexploited,  and  that  its  virgin 
lands,  adequate  for  any  cultivation,  well  provided  with  water  and  extremely  fertile, 
offer  great  advantages  to  the  investment  of  capital  and  a  wide  field  to  immigration. 

The  people  of  Honduras  are  hospitable  and  generous,  honest  and  temperate. 
The  cost  of  living  is  extremely  low,  due  principally  to  the  richness  of  the  soil  and  the 
simplicity  of  habits.  The  foreigner  is  always  received  with  cordiality,  and  given  all 
sorts  of  facilities  and  assistance,  so  that  he  may  undertake  any  business.  The  law 
accords  him  the  same  privileges  that  it  does  to  Hondureans,  and  there  is  no  restric- 
tion that  would  prevent  him  from  acquiring  or  disposing  of  property.  The  country 
offers  a  wide  field  to  the  investment  of  capital,  and  gives  the  immigrant  every  facility 
and  protection  in  order  to  insure  him  success  in  his  business. 

Its  delightful  climate,  its  absolute  health  and  the  facilities  that  both  the  Gov- 
ernment and  the  people  give  to  foreigners  make  of  Honduras  a  land  of  promise  for 
all  those  who  may  desire  to  reach  its  hospitable  shores. 


Proceedings  of  the  Pan  American  Commercial 
Conference  edited  by  Captain  Granville  Fortescue, 
Pan  American  Union  Staff. 


291 


COMMERCIAL   ORGANIZATIONS,    FIRMS,    MANUFACTURERS, 

MERCHANTS  AND  TRADE   BODIES  REPRESENTED  AT 

THE  PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE, 

WITH  NAMES  OF  DELEGATES 


The  Abbott  Alkaloidal  Co., 

Abenroth  Bros., 

Adt,  J.  B., 

Aeolian  Co., 

Agar,  Cross  &  Co., 

Allen  Am.   Manganese  Steel 

Co.,  Edgar, 
Allis-Chalmers  Co.,  The, 

Alta  Export  Co.,  The, 
Ames  Iron  Works, 
America  Co.,  The, 
American  Academy  of  Politi- 
cal and  Social  Science, 
American  Academy  of  Politi- 
cal and  Social  Science, 
American  Axe  &  Tool  Co., 
American  Bankers'  Assn., 
American  Blower  Co., 
American  Blower  Co., 
American  Car  &  Foundry  Co. 
American    Carpet   &   Uphol- 
stery Journal, 
American    Copper    &    Brass 

Works, 

American  Cotton  Mfg.  Assn., 
American  Cotton  Oil  Co., 
American  Crayon  Co., 

"American  Exporter," 
American  Fork  &  Hoe  Co., 


Chicago,  111., 
Port  Chester,  N.  Y. 
Baltimore,  Md, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Chicago,  111., 

Milwaukee,  Wis., 

New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 

Philadelphia,  Pa., 

New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Philadelphia,  Pa., 
New  York  City, 
Philadelphia,  Pa., 

Cincinnati,  Ohio, 

Charlotte,  N.  C, 
New  York  City, 
Sandusky,  Ohio, 

New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 


American  Fork  &  Hoe  Co.,      Cleveland,  Ohio, 


American  Fork  &  Hoe  Co., 
"American  Group,  The," 
American   Hardware   Corp., 
American  Iron  &  Steel  Insti- 
tute, 
American   Laundry   Machine 

Co.,  The, 

American  Lithographic  Co., 
American       Mfrs.        Export 
Assn., 


American      Meat      Packers' 

Assn., 
American     Paper     &     Pulp 

Assn., 

American  Seating  Co., 
t  American  Steam  Pump  Wksi, 
American  Sterilizer  Co., 
American  Trading  Co., 
American  Vanadium  Co., 
Anheuser-Busch  Brfew.  Assn., 
Archibald,  James  F.  J., 
Arkell  &  Douglass,  Inc., 


New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  Britain,  Conn. 
New  York  City, 

Cincinnati,  Ohio, 

New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 


New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 

Ridgewood,  N.  J., 
Battle  Creek,  Mich. 
Erie,  Pa., 
New  York  City, 
Pittsburg,  Pa., 
St.  Louis,  Mo., 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 


W.  T.  Thackeray. 


S.  B.  Schaad. 

Frank  A.  Gundlad. 

R.  S.  Bishop,  Wash.,  D.  C. 

J.  F.  Dixon,  New  York  City. 
H.  W.  Rowley. 
Alejandro  W.  Rojas. 
Thomas  Leonard. 
George  C.  Vedder. 
Alex.  L.  W.  Begg. 

Dr.  L.  S.  Rowe. 

Robert  Mann. 

M.  E.  E.  Ailes,  Wash,  D.  C. 

C.  B.  Bidford. 

F.  E.  Bloss. 


C.  F.  Ellehorst. 

W.  E.  Hooper. 

Jas.  R.  Watson,  Wash,  D.  C. 

George  E.  Parmenter, 

Waltham,  Mass. 
Franklin  Johnston. 
W.  H.  Cowdery, 

Cleveland,  Ohio. 
Charles  H.  Russell, 

Plainneld,  N.  J. 
C.  H.  Russell. 
F.  H.  McKnight. 

James  A.  Farrell. 
Leonard  S.  Smith. 

W.  A.  Warner. 
Henry  T.  Willis. 
C.  F.  Edgarton. 
Elmer  H.  Allen. 
Harry  L.  Gemberling. 
George  L.  McCarthy. 

Louis  Chable. 

T.  G.  Barber,  New  York  City. 
Geo.  J.  Lowe,  New  York  City. 
J.  E.  Hall. 
Thomas  A.  Eddy. 
James  J.  Hannecy. 
Allen  C.  Orrick. 


292 


Arlington  Chemical  Works, 
Armas,  Aurelio  de, 
Appleton  &  Co.,  D.  A., 
Assn.  of  Commerce, 


Atkins  &  Co.,  E.  C,  Inc., 
Atkins  Pease  Mfg.  Co., 
Atlantic  City  Publicity  Bur., 
Auburn  Wagon  Co., 
Austin,   Nichols  &  Co., 
Avery  Co., 

Babbitt,  Inc.,  B.  T., 
Baker,  B.  N., 
Baldwin,  W.  Bolles, 
Baldwin  Co.,  The, 
Ballard  &  Ballard  Co., 
Baltimore  Bridge  Co., 
Bankers,    Jobbers    &    Mfrs. 

Assn., 

Bankers'  Magazine, 
Bankers    Publishing  Co., 
Barber  Asphalt  Paving  Co., 
Barber  &  Co.,  Inc., 
Barbosa,  J.  E., 
Bates  &  Co.,  A.  J., 
Bay  State  Tap  &  Die  Co., 
Beaver  Co.,  The, 
Bedford  Mills, 

Becker  Milling  Machine  Co., 
Bennett  Typewriter  Co., 
Berg,  G.  A., 
Berger  Mfg.  Co., 
Berndt  &  Co., 
Berry  Bros., 
Bethlehem  Steel  Co., 
Binghamton  Whip   Co., 
Birch,  J.  H., 

Bissell  Carpet  Sweeper  Co., 
Bliss  &  Co.,  A.  H., 
Blood  &  Co.,  John, 
Blymyer  Iron  Works,  The, 
Board  of  Commerce, 

Board  of  Trade, 
Board  of  Trade, 


Board  of  Trade, 


Yonkers,  N.  Y., 
Havana,  Cuba, 
New  York  City, 
Chicago,  111., 


Indianapolis,  Ind., 
Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
Atlantic  City,  N.  J., 
Martinsburg,  W.  Va., 
New  York  City, 
Peoria,  111., 

New  York  City, 
Baltimore,  Md., 
New  York  City, 
Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
Louisville,  Ky., 
Baltimore,  Md., 
Houston,  Tex., 

New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Philadelphia,  Pa., 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Mansfield,  Mass., 
Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
New  York  City, 
Hyde  Park,  Mass., 
New  York  City, 
Worcester,  Mass., 
Canton,  Ohio, 
Baltimore,.  Md., 
Detroit,  Mich., 
Bethlehem,  Pa., 
Binghamton,  N.  Y., 
Burlington,  N.  J., 
New  York  City, 
No.  Attleboror,  Mass., 
Philadelphia,  Pa., 
Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
Detroit,  Mich., 

Little  Rock,  Ark., 
Washington,  D.  C., 


Tampa,  Fla., 


Board  of  Trade, 
Board  of  Trade, 


New  Orleans,  La., 
Worcester,  Mass., 


293 


F.  W.  R.  Eschmann. 

E.  W.  Fielder. 

G.  K.  Sage. 
Louis  S.  Curt 

F.  C.  Enright. 

Geo.  J.  Lowe,  New  York  City. 
Harry  T.  Atkins. 
George  S.  Lenhart. 

C.  F.  Sullivan. 
Frank  A.  Gundlad. 

S.  W.  Eckman. 


A.  P.  Hagemeyer. 
E.  B.  Coffey. 
Harry  D.  Bush. 
Tom  M.  Flaxman. 

Elmer  H.  Youngman. 
Elmer  H.  Youngman. 
Louis  D.  Ricci. 
James  Barber. 

E.  A.  Bates. 
L.  A.  Lincoln. 
W.  F.  MacGlashan. 
Otto  Kafka. 

William  L.  Dench. 

George  D.  Glass. 
J.  E.  E.  Berndt. 
H.  P.  Stephenson. 
Archibald  Johnston. 
L.  Woodruff. 
J.  H.  Birch,  Jr. 


Robert  C.  Blood. 
Richard  Bahman. 
Milton  A.  McRae. 
James  L.  Lee. 
E.  L.  Givens. 
John  Joy  Edson. 
J.  M.  Hodges. 

D.  S.  Porter. 
William  H.  Saunders. 
Charles  H.  Brown. 
Abe  Maas. 

E.  M.  Hendry. 

C.  M.  Morehouse. 

A.  Nistal. 

G.  A.  Petteway. 

H.  E.  Snow. 

Hon.  S.  M.  Sparkman. 

E.  J.  Stachelberg. 

T.  C.  Taliaferro. 

James  W.  Porch. 

George  F.  Booth. 

John  W.  Harrington. 

Herman  Schernee. 

Charles  T.  Tatman,  Pres. 


Board  of  Trade, 

Board  of  Trade  of  Hoboken, 

Board  of  Trade, 

Brazilian  Trade  Corporation, 

The, 

Brazilian  Consul, 
Bridgeport  Coal  &  Wood  Co., 

Brill  &  Co.,  J.  G., 
Bristol-Myers  Co., 
Broderick    &    Bascom    Rope 

Co., 

Brown,  Frederick, 
Browne  &  Co., 
Brown  Co.,  The  A.  &  R, 
Buffalo  Forge  Co., 
Buffalo  Steam  Pump  Co., 
Burroughs    Adding    Machine 

Co., 

Bush  &  Gerts  Piano  Mfg.  Co., 
Business  League, 
Business  Men's  Assn., 

Business  Men's  Club, 
Business  Men's  Club  Co., 
Business  Men's  League, 
Butler  Co.,  The, 
Butman,  Arthur  B., 


Fitchburg,  Mass., 
Hoboken,  N.  J., 
Newark,  N.  J., 
New  York  City, 

Philadelphia,  Pa., 
Bridgeport,  Conn., 

Philadelphia,  Pa., 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
St.  Louis,  Mo., 

New,  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
Detroit,  Mich., 


Chicago,  111., 
Houston,  Tex., 
Norfolk,  Va., 

Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
St.  Louis,  Mo., 
Butler,  Ind., 
Boston,  Mass., 


Charles  F.  Wilson. 
E.  H.  Horgood. 
James  N.  Riles. 
John  A.  Henneberry. 

N.  B.  Kelly. 
E.  G.  Alemathy. 
John  S.  Boate. 
Alfred  N.  Hargrove. 
Henry  P.  Bristol. 
John  K.  Broderick. 


Louis  L.  Browne. 
R.  J.  Easton. 
H.  C.  Rice. 
H.  C.  Rice. 
E.  S.  Newman. 
John  A.  Olt. 
H.  E.  Watkins. 

J.  S.  Cullinan. 
Homer  C.   Sherritt. 
Harry  K.  Walcott. 
Harry  T.  Atkins. 
Leonard  S.  Smith. 
Edward  A.  Faust. 


Cal.  Development  Board,          San  Francisco,  Cal., 


California  Wine  Assn., 
Campbell,  Hon.  P.  P., 
Canton  Stamping  &  Enamel- 
ing Co., 

Carbonating  Co.  of  Amer., 
Carne,  Wm.  F., 
Central  Iron  &  Steel  Co., 
Central  Railroad  of  Haiti, 
Central  &  S.  Amer.  Tel.  Co. 
Century  Syndicate,  The, 
Chalmers  Motor  Co., 


Chamber 
Chamber 
Chamber 
Chamber 
Chamber 
Chamber 
Chamber 


of  Commerce, 

of  Commerce, 

of  Commerce, 

of  Commerce, 

of  Commerce, 

of  Commerce, 

of  Commerce, 


Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Chamber  of  Commerce, 


San  Francisco,  Cal., 
3d  Cong.  Dist.  Kans. 
Canton,  Ohio, 

New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Harrisburg,  Pa., 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Detroit,  Mich., 

Eureka,  Cal., 
Oakland,  Cal., 
Sacramento,  Cal., 
San  Francisco,  Cal., 
San  Jose,  Cal., 
Denver,  Colo., 
Dist.  of  Columbia, 


Savannah,  Ga., 
Honolulu,  H.  L, 
Quincy,  111., 

294 


Hon.  Julius  Kahn. 
Hon.  George  C.  Perkins. 
Hon.  James  McLachlan. 
W.  Frowenfeld. 

Charles  A.  Doughterty. 
John  A.  Stewart. 


Philip  W.  Henry. 
J.  Langdon  Erving. 
Atherton  Brownell. 
A.  W.  Barber. 
C.  C.  Hildebrand. 

Hon.  George  C.   Pardee. 

Hon.  D.  E.   McKinlay. 

William  M.  Bunker. 

Hon.  E.  A.  Hayes. 

J.  F.  Callbreath,  Jr. 

J.  H.  Cranford. 

A.  Listner. 

Hon.  H.  B.  F.  McFarland. 

H.  B.  Polkinhorn. 

A.  D.  Prince. 

G.  F.  Schutt. 

William  E.  Shannon. 

A.  Leftwich  Sinclair. 

Joseph  Strasburger. 

George  W.  White. 

Joseph  F.  Gray. 

George  McK.  McClellan. 

C.  F.  Perry. 


Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Chamber  of  Commerce, 


Chamber 
Chamber 
Chamber 
Chamber 
Chamber 
Chamber 


of  Commerce, 

of  Commerce, 

of  Commerce, 

of  Commerce, 

of  Commerce, 

of  Commerce, 


Chamber  of 
Chamber  of 
Chamber  of 
Chamber  of 
Chamber  of 
Chamber  of 


Commerce, 
Commerce, 
Commerce, 
Commerce, 
Commerce, 
Commerce, 


Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Chamber  of  Commerce, 


Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Chamber  of  Commerce  and 

Board  of  Trade, 
Chamberlain  Medicine  Co., 
Chas.  L.  Chandler   (Vice  U. 

S.  Consul  General), 
Chandler  &  Price  Co., 
Chase  &  Baker  Co., 
Chattanooga  Furniture  Co., 
Chesapeake  &   Ohio  •  Coal  & 

Coke  Co., 

Cheesman   &   Elliott, 
Chesebrough  Mfg.  Co., 
Chicago  Assn.  of  Mfrs., 
Chicago  Railway  Equip.  Co., 
Chronicle  Co.,  Ltd.,  The, 
Cincinnati  Lathe  &  Tool  Co., 
Claflin  Co.,  H.  B., 
Clark  Bros.  &  Co., 
Clark,  Hon.  Champ, 
Clark,  J.  D.,  Co., 
Clark,  W.  A.  Graham, 
Clayton,  Hon.  Henry  D., 
Cleveland  Varnish  Co., 
Clyde  S.  S.  Co., 
Coe,  James  A., 
Collier's, 

Collins,  Darrah  &  Co., 
Colmary  &  Co.,  A.  H., 
Colonial  Works, 
Columbia  Phonograph  Co., 

Columbia      River      Loggers' 

Assn., 
Columbia     Trading     Co.     of 

New  York, 

Columbian  Iron  Works, 
Columbus  Piano  Co.,  The, 


New  Orleans,  La., 
Baltimore,  Md., 
Boston,  Mass., 

So.  Bend,  Ind., 
Binghamton,  N.  Y. 
Newburgh,  N.  Y., 
New  York  City, 
Rochester,  N.  Y., 
Syracuse,  N.  Y., 


Utica,  N.  Y.,  _ 
Cleveland,  Ohio, 
Dayton,  Ohio, 
Youngstown,  Ohio, 
Portland,  Ore., 
Pittsburg,  Pa., 

Philadelphia,  Pa., 
Charleston,  S.  C, 
Galveston,  Tex., 
San  Antonio,  Tex., 


Roanoke,  Va., 
Petersburg,  Va., 
Tacoma,  Wash., 

Des  Moines,  Iowa, 
Buenos  Aires,  S.  A., 

Cleveland,  Ohio, 
Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
Chattanooga,  Tenn., 

Washington,  D.  C, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Chicago,  111., 
Chicago,  111., 
New  York  City, 
Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
New  York  City, 
Belmont,  N.  Y., 
Washington,  D.  C., 
Rochdale,  Mass., 
Washington,  D.  C, 
Washington,  D.  C., 
Cleveland,  Ohio, 
New  York  City, 
Newark,  N.  J., 
New  York  City, 
Nebraska,  Pa., 
Baltimore,  Md., 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
New  York  City, 


Portland,  Ore., 

New  York  City, 
Chattanooga,  Tenn., 
Columbus,  Ohio, 


George  Somerville  Jackson. 

Lewis  I.  Prouty. 

Oscar  S.  Bauer. 

H.  D.  C.  Van  Asmus. 

L.  Woodruff. 

Frederick  K.  Gifford. 

Sereno  S.  Pratt. 

W.  A.  LeBrun. 
William  Allen  Dyer. 
C.  P.  Remore. 
J.  Soley  Cole. 
Walter  H.  Cottingham. 
Walter  B.  Moore. 
J.  G.  Butler. 

L.  S.  Dow. 

Pierce  C.  Williams. 

N.  B.  Kelly. 

A.  W.  McKeand. 

H.  H.  Haines. 

John  B.  Carrington. 

Col.  Ike  T.  Proyer. 

Hon.  James  L.  Slayden. 

W.  L.  Shafer. 

H.  P.  Stratton. 

A.  B.  Sommers. 

Will  A.  Peairs. 


Mr.  Lewis. 

Capt  H.  F.  Temple. 

Charles  M.  Barnett. 
Frank  P.  Cheesman. 
Thomas  J.  Dobbins. 

Benjamin  F.  Pilson. 
William  B.  Case. 

Jose  M.  Menendez. 
W.  P.  Clark. 

Arthur  C.  Comins. 

Frank  B.  Conger. 
Edward  F.  Clements. 
V.  Consul  of  Paraguay. 
Arthur  Ruhl. 
Frank  X.  Kreitler. 
A.  H.  Colmary. 
E.  H.  Pottle. 
Edward  N.  Burns. 
William  Easton. 

Russell  Hawkins. 
A.  Puerto. 
Kennith  W.  Curtis. 


295 


Comas      Cigarette     Machine 

Co., 

Cpmins  &  Co.,  Inc., 
Cincinnati  Commer.  Assn., 

Commercial  Club, 

Commercial  Club, 
Commercial  Club  of  Madison, 
Commercial     Club     of    Fort 

Wayne, 

Commercial  Club  of  Duluth, 
Commercial  Club, 
Commercial  Club, 

Commercial  Club, 

Commercial  Club, 
Commercial  Club, 
Commercial  Club, 
Commercial  Club, 
Commercial  League, 
Commercial  Museum, 

Commission     for     Economic 

Expansion  of  Brazil, 
Commonwealth     Storage     & 

Supply  Co.,  The, 
Conn  &  Co.,  C.  G., 
Conrad,  William  R., 
Cortland  Carriage  Co., 
Cotton  Goods  Export  Assn., 
Compton  &   Knowles   Loom 

Works, 

Crown  Distilleries, 
Crucible  Steel  Co.  of  Amer., 

Corning  Glass  Works, 
Cranford  Paving  Co., 
Cutler  &  Sons,  A., 

Daniels,  Lorenzo, 
Darling,  Jos.  R, 
Dartmouth  College, 
Daunbil  Co., 
Davis  Coal  &  Coke  Co., 
Davis  Mfg.  Co., 
Dayton  Motor  Car  Co., 
Deere  &  Mansur  Co., 
De  Haven  Mfg.  Co.,  ' 
Derby  Desk  Co., 
Des  Moines  Capital, 
Development  &  Funding  Co., 
Dieckmann  &  Co., 
Dietrich  Bros., 
Dietzgen  &  Co.,  Eugene, 

Dixon  Crucible  Co.,  Jos., 
Dodge,  Norman  S., 
Donlon,  John  H., 

Dorrance  Co.,  The, 
Douglas  Shoe  Co,  W.  L, 
Dun  &  Co,  R.  G, 


Salem,  Va, 
Rochdale,  Mass, 
Cincinnati,  Ohio, 

Fort  Smith,  Ark, 

Joliet,  111, 
Madison,  Ind, 
Fort  Wayne,  Ind, 

Duluth,  Minn, 
Minneapolis,  Minn. 
St.  Joseph,  Mo, 

Kansas  City,  Mo, 

Lincoln,  Neb, 
Minot,  N.  D, 
Portland,  Ore, 
Providence,  R.  I, 
Fort  Smith,  Ark, 
Philadelphia,  Pa, 


New  York  City, 

Melbourne,  Australia, 
Elkhart,  Ind, 
Burlington,  N.  J, 
Cortland,  N.  Y, 
New  York  City, 

Worcester,  Mass, 
San  Francisco,  Cal, 
Pittsburg,  Pa, 

Corning,  N.  Y, 
Washington,  D.  C, 
Buffalo,  N.  Y, 

New  York  City, 
Washington,  D.  C, 
Hanover,  N.  H, 
New  York  City, 
Baltimore,  Md, 
New  York  City, 
Dayton,  Ohio, 
Moline,   111, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y, 
Boston,  Mass, 
Des  Moines,  Iowa, 
New  York  City, 
San  Francisco,  Cal, 
Baltimore,  Md, 
New  York  City, 

Jersey  City,  N.  J, 
New  York  City, 
Philadelphia,  Pa, 

New  York  City, 
Brockton,  Mass, 
New  York  City, 

296 


Dr.  F.  V.  N.  Painter. 

Arthur  C.  Comins. 

A.  P.  Hagemeyer. 

C.  L.  Coffin. 

H.  G.  Spaulding. 

E.  D.  Bedwell. 

W.  O.  Hodgdon. 

Marcus  R.  Sulzer. 

G.  M.  Leslie. 

T.  F.  Thieme. 

Hon.  C.  B.  Miller. 

N.  W.  Jermane. 

Hon.  Charles  F.  Booher. 

Francis  B.  Purdie. 

Hon.  William  P.  Borland. 

James  W.  S.  Peters. 

Hon.  John  A.  Maguire. 

Dr.  J.  W.  Newlove. 

C.  C.  Chapman. 

Henry  G.  Thresher. 

E.  D."  Bedwell. 

W.  P.  Wilson. 

Dudley  Bartlett 

Atherton  Brownell. 
Robert  J.  Lewis. 


Howard  Ayers. 
Earle  E.  Howard. 

I.  N.  Beatty. 
B.  V.  Maxwell. 
George  B.  Hollister. 
J.  H.  Cranford. 


Dr.  Ernest  Fox  Nichols. 
Frank  B.  Conger. 
R.  K.  Rice. 
David  S.  Hays. 
Gridley  Adams. 

Philip  J.  Forbes. 
Stephen  P.  Spitz. 
Lafayette  Young. 
Clarence  W.  Marsh. 

A.  J.  Dietrich. 
L.  Klopman. 
D.  Lindeman. 
George  E.  Long. 

John  H.  Donlon. 
Samuel  Lees. 
M.  de  Moreira. 
A.  T.  Sweetser. 
Payson  Stone  Douglass. 
C.  A.  Green. 


Dunn  &  McCarthy, 


Auburn,  N.  Y., 


Du  Pont  de  Nemours  Pow-  Wilmington,  Del., 
der  Co.,  E.  I.  (Fabrikoid  Newburgh,  N.  Y., 
Works), 

Du  Pont  de  Nemours  Pow-  Wilmington,  Del., 
der  Co.,  E.  L, 


Durant  Dort  Carriage  Co.,        Flint,  Mich., 


Eagle  &  Phenix  Mills, 
Eder,  Phanor  J., 
Eddy,  Thomas  A., 
Edgarton   Mfg.   Co.,  The  C 

A., 
Edwards  Co.,  O.  M., 

Eggers,  August, 
"El  Comercio," 

"El  Diaorio," 

"El  Imparcial," 

Electro  Dental  Mfg.  Co., 

Electric  Storage  Battery  Co., 

Elliott-Fisher  Co., 
Elwell,  James  L., 
Emerich  &  Co.,  Chas., 
Engelberg  Huller  Co.,  The, 

Enterprise  Mfg.   Co.  of  Pa., 
Equitable  Powder  Mfg.  Co., 
Erlanger  Bros., 
Evanston  Commercial  Club, 
Excelsior  Mining,  Milling  & 

Electric  Co., 

Export  American  Industries, 
Export  Corporation, 
Exporters  &  Importers'  Jour., 
Ewing  Fox  &  Co.,  M., 

Faber,  Eberhardt, 
Fairbanks  Co., 
Farquhar,  Ltd.,  A.  B., 
Farquhar  Co.,  A.  B., 
Faultless  Rubber  Co., 
Federal  Electric  Co., 
Feige  Desk  Co.,  The, 
Ferro    Machine    &    Foundry 

Co.,  The, 

Ferdinand  &  Co.,  T.  W., 
Finck  &  Co.,  W.  M., 
First  National  Bank, 
Fishel,  W.  R., 
Fitz-Hugh  Luther  Co., 
Flagg  Co.,  Stanley  G., 
Flint  Varnish  Works, 
Flint^  &  Walling  Mfg.  Co., 
Foreign  Trade  Assn., 
"Foreign  Trade," 
French  &  Co.,  Sam.  H., 
Friberg,  P.  A., 
Friedenberg,  Chas., 
Furlong,  Chas.  W., 


Columbus,  Ga., 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City 
Shirley,  Mass., 

Syracuse,  N.  Y., 

New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 

Mexico  City,  Mex., 
Mexico  City,  Mex., 
Philadelphia,   Pa., 
Philadelphia,  Pa., 

Harrisbnrg,   Pa., 
New  York  City, 
Chicago,  111., 
Syracuse,  N.  Y., 

Philadelphia,  Pa., 
Fort  Smith,  Ark., 
New  York  City, 
Evanston,  Wyo., 

Denver,  Colo., 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 

New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
York,  Pa., 
Ashland,  Ohio, 
Chicago,  111., 
Saginaw,  Mich., 
Cleveland,  Ohio, 

Boston,  Mass., 
Detroit,  Mich., 
New  York  City, 
Hope,  Ind., 
New  York  City, 
Philadelphia,  Pa., 
Flint,  Mich., 
Kendallville,  Ind., 
St.  Louis,  Mo., 
New  York  City, 
Philadelphia,  Pa., 
Worcester,  Mass., 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 


F.  L.  Emerson. 

C.  W.  Ross. 

J.  Kearney  Rodgers. 


J.  K.  Rodgers. 
John  W.  Matthews. 
W.  S.  Gavan. 
C.  B.  Landis. 
J.  D.  Dort. 

J.  D.  Massey. 


Aimer  H.  Allen. 
C.  F.  Edgarton. 
Thomas  H.   Bright. 
W.  A.  Le  Brun. 
W.  Ludeke. 
Burnet  L.  Clark. 
William  R.  Shannon. 
Francisco  A.  Godoy. 
Alberto  M.   Carreno. 
Reginald  Gorham. 
E.  L.  Reynolds. 
C.  W.  Woodward. 
L.  G.  Julian. 

Frank  B.  Conger. 
C.  P.  Remore. 
Charles  E.  Montague. 
C.  W.  Aslum. 
E.  D.  Bedwell. 
M.  S.  Erlanger. 
Frank  A.  Cashin. 

T.  B.  Wiborg. 
Jas.  L.  Ewell. 
Geo.  W.  Markens. 
Ralph  W.  Grout. 


Clarence  C.  Fleming. 
C.   H.  Graff. 
A.  B.  Farquhar. 

Chas.  H.  Seiz. 
Louis  S.  Curt. 

E.  Feige. 

W.  P.  Street. 
Crispin  Oglebay. 

James  L.  Lee. 

F.  H.  McKnight. 

Jos.  T.  Scheacks. 

Stanley  G.  Flagg,  Jr. 

J.  D.  Dort. 

R.  W.  Geauque. 

Hon.  Richard  Bartholdt. 

M.  de  Moreira,  Editor. 

R.  W.  Hilles. 


297 


Gandy  Belting  Co., 


Gardner  Governor  Co.,  The, 
Gauntlett,  Fred  J., 
General  Electric  Co., 
General  Fire  Extin.  Co., 
General  Fireproofing  Co., 
General  Elec.  Inspection  Co., 
General  Railroad  Signal  Co., 
General  Roofing  Mfg.  Co., 
Georgetown  Law  School, 
Gerhard  &  Co.,  Paul  F., 
Ginn  &  Co., 

Glacken,  R.  M, 

Glidden  Varnish  Co., 

Goetz,  A.  D., 

Gold  Medal  Camp  Furniture 

Mfg.  Co., 
Goodel  Co., 
Goulds  Mfg.  Co.,  The, 
Grabowski  Power  Wagon  Co., 
Grace  &  Co.,  W.  R., 


Graham  &  Co.,  John  H., 
Grandpierre,  Chas., 
Green,  A.  Metz, 
Green  Fuel  Economizer  Co., 

The, 

Greenbaum,  S., 
Greenduck  Co.,  The, 
Greist  Mfg.  Co.,  The, 
Grinnell,  Willis  &  Co., 
Grosvenor-Dale  Co., 
Guayaquil  &  Quito  Railway, 
Gude,  William  F., 
Gulick  Henderson  Co., 
Gumpert  &  Co.,  S., 

Hagy  Wast  Works,   The   J. 

Milton, 

Hains  Concrete  Mixer  Co., 
Hale  Co., 
Hall  Yarn  &  Waste  Co, 

Harbison  -  Walker  Refracto- 
ries Co, 

Hardinge  Bros, 

Harlan  &  Hollingsworth  Cor- 
poration, 

Harper,   George, 

Harper's  Magazine, 

Harris,  H.  W, 

Harris,  T.  H, 

Harrington  &  Richardson 
Arms  Co, 

Harry  Bros.  Co, 


Baltimore,  Md, 


Quir.cy,  111, 
Washington,  D.  C, 
Schenectady,  N.  Y, 
Providence,  R.  I, 
Youngstown,  Ohio, 
New  York  City. 
Rochester,  N.  Y, 
York,  Pa, 
Washington,  D.  C, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 

Baltimore,  Md, 
Cleveland,  Ohio, 
Charlestown,  W.  Va, 
Racine,  Wis, 

New  York  City, 
Seneca  Falls,  N.  Y, 
Detroit,  Mich, 
New  York  City, 


New  York  City, 
Princeton,  N.  J, 
New  York  City, 
Mattewan,  N.  Y, 

New  York  City, 
Chicago,  111, 
New  Haven,  Conn, 
New  York  City, 
Providence.  R.  I, 
New  York  City, 
Washington,  D.  C, 
Pittsburg,  Pa, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y, 


Wm.  Kennedy  Cromwell. 
Chas.  H.  Dankemeyer. 
Thomas  Mcllroy,  Jr. 


M.  L.  Mora. 

P.  R.  Clark. 
H.  L.  Hardy. 
H.  M.  Sperry. 
R.  J.  Redrick. 
John  C.  Foin. 
Paul  F.  Gerhard. 
Geo.   A.   Plimpton. 
Thos.  B.  Lawler. 

J.  P.  Glidden. 
Geo.  B.  Goetz. 
W.  G.  Gittings. 


Wm.  E.  Dickey. 
Bernard  Ginsburg. 
Morris  Bouviar. 
John  F.  Fowler. 
J.  Louis  Schaefer. 
W.  D.  Batting. 


A.  Blackburn. 


W.  C.  Greist. 
Walter  S.  Poor. 
Wm.  T.  West. 


Henry  Gulick. 
S.  Gumpert. 


Philadelphia,  Pa,  Ralph  L.  Hays. 


Washington,  D.  C, 
New  York  City, 
Chicago,  111, 
Philadelphia,  Pa, 
Pittsburg,  Pa, 


Hartley  Co,  M, 


Chicago,  111, 
Wilmington,    Del, 

New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Alliance,  Ohio, 
Havana,  Cuba, 
Worcester,  Mass, 

New  Orleans,  La, 


New  York  City, 


298 


Peter  C.  Hains. 
Wm.  F.  Smith. 
Jas.  Foyer. 
John  W.  Harmer. 
J.  E.  Morgan. 

A.  C.  Rowe  &  Son. 
Saml.  K.  Smith. 


Charles  Furlong. 

U.  S.  Consul  Gen.  at  Large. 


W.  W.  Chandler. 
H.  L.  Harry. 
T.  S.  Cave. 
F.  Behr. 
F.  B.  Clark. 
H.  A.  Cushing. 


Haws  von  Gal,  Inc., 
Hays,  David  S., 
Heinz  Co.,  The  H.  ]., 
Hench,  Dromgold  &  Co., 
Hepmann  &  Co., 
Henry,  Philip  W., 
Heymann  &  Co.,  S.  E., 
Heywood  Bros.  &  Wakefield, 
Hoen  &  Co.,  S., 
Hungerford  Bros.  &  Co., 
Hoffman,  Rothschild  &  Co., 

Holophane  Glass  Co., 

Holland  Gold  Pen  Co.,  The 

John, 

Holt  &  Co, 
Hooker    Electro    Chem.    Co., 

The, 

Hooper  &  Sons  Co,  W.  E, 
Hoover-Owens-Rentschler 

Co, 

Horlick's  Malted  Milk  Co, 
Horwood  &  Co,  E.  H, 
Howard  Clock  Co,  The  E, 


Howell  Hichman  Co, 
Hughes  &  Co, 
Huntley  Mfg.  Co, 
Hydrex  Felt  &  Eng.  Co., 


New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Pittsburg,  Pa, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Baltimore,  Md, 
New  York  City, 
San  Francisco,  Cal. 

New  York  City, 
Cincinnati,  Ohio, 

New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 

Baltimore,  Md, 
Hamilton,  Ohio, 

Racine,  Wis, 
New  York  City, 
Boston,  Mass, 


Middletown,  N.  Y, 
New  York  City, 
Silver  Creek,  N.  Y, 
New  York  City, 


Otto  Kafka. 

L.  S.  Dow. 
Francis  J.  Lowe. 
S.  E.  Hepmann. 

Seymour  E.  Heymann 

Spencer  Swain. 

A.   B.  Hoen. 

C.  G.   Hungerford. 

E.  F.  Rothschild. 

Chas.   Hoffman. 

E.  K.  Hyde. 

A.  H.  Keleher. 


Philetus  H.  Holt. 
Clarence  W.  Marsh. 
J.  C.  Jessup. 
Wm.  E.  Hooper. 
J.   C.   Hoover. 
W.  B.  Mayo. 
Ralph  W.  Ashcroft. 
E.  H.  Horwood. 
E.  S.  Bigelow. 
W.  R.  Cadmus. 
T.  J.  Meaney. 
T.  E.  Hayes. 
J.  Frank  Dunham. 

Edward  W.  De  Knight. 


Ideal  Concrete  Machine  Co, 

Illinois  Mfrs.'  Assn., 

Illinois  Steel  Co, 

Imperial  Wheel  Co,  The, 

Inca  Co,  The, 

Ingersoll  &  Bros,  Robt.  H, 

Ingersoll-Rand  Co, 

International  Agric.   Cor, 

International  Brewers'  Con- 
gress, t 

International  Button  Co, 

International  Cotton  Mills 
Corporation, 

International  Elec.  Welding 
Co, 

International  Paper  Co, 

International  Silver  Co, 
International     Steam     Pump 

Co, 

Interior  Hardwood  Co, 
Interstate  Cotton  Seed 

Crushers'  Assn., 


So.  Bend,  Ind, 
Chicago,  111, 
Chicago,  111, 
Flint,  Mich, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Chicago,  111, 

Rochester,  N.  Y, 
New  York  City, 

New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 

Buenos  Aires,  Argen. 
New  York  City, 

Indianapolis,  Ind, 
Columbia,  S.  C., 


S.  B.  Cerefet. 
John  M.  Glenn. 

J.  D.  Dort. 
Geo.  E.  Fox. 

Herbert  T.  Abrams. 
William  N.  Shaw. 
H.  E.  O.  Heinemann. 

M.  B.   Shantz. 

C.  Howard  Metz. 

Guy  Osburn. 

Louis  Chable. 
Carter  W.  Lyman. 
Charles  A.  Pope. 

D.  J.  Gibson. 

Chas.  H.  Comstock. 
T.  S.  Young. 


Jardine,  Kent  &  Hill, 
Joannini,  Frank  L, 
Johnson,  Willis  Fletcher, 
Jones  &  Laughlin  Steel  Co, 

"Jornal  do  Brazil," 
"Jornal  do  Commercio," 


New  York  City, 

Washington,  D.  C, 

New  York  City, 

Pittsburg,  Pa,  Robt.  Geddis. 

Geo.  A.  Mason. 

Rio  de  Janeiro,  Brazil,    Jose  Marcal. 
New  York  City,  Abreu  Vasco. 


299 


Keeley,  James  Hughes, 
Kell,  John  R, 

Kellogg  Switchboard  &  Sup- 
ply Co., 

Ketterlinus  Litho.   Mfg.   Co., 
Keystone  Coal  &  Coke  Co., 
Keystone  Watch  Case  Co., 
Kilbourne  &  Jacobs  Co., 
Kimball  Co.,  A, 

Knickerbocker    Typewriter 

Exp.  Co., 

Kohler  &  Campbell  Co., 
Knothe  Bros., 
Knowles,  Taylor  &  Knowles 

Co., 
Kuhn,  Loeb  &  Co., 


Richmond,  Va., 
York,  Pa., 
Chicago,  111., 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Baltimore,  Md., 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Columbus,  Ohio, 
New  York  City, 


Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 

New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
E.  Liverpool,  Ohio, 

New  York  City, 


Col.  Willis  Bruce  Dowd. 
J.  C.  Murray. 

Francis  A.  Schneider. 
J.   F.  Eisler. 

W.  J.  Porter. 
Melville  A.  Marsh. 
Oscar  Warner. 
Geo.  Cochran  Broome. 


Otto  Kafka. 
Edwin  M.  Knowles. 

Frank  McKnight. 


La  Central  Lumber  Co., 

La  Hacienda  Co., 

Lambert  Pharmacal  Co., 

Lamport  &  Holt  S.  S.  Line, 

Landenberger  Mfg.  Co., 

Landis,  C.  B., 

"La  Razon," 

Latin  American  Develop.  Co., 

Latin  American  Export  Co., 

Latin  American  &  Foreign 
Trade  Assn., 

Latin  American  Club, 

Lawyers'  Club, 

Lawyers'  International  Cor- 
respondence Co., 

Lay,  Tracy, 

League  of  Peace, 

Leaycraft  Trading  Co., 

Lehigh  Mfg.  Co., 

Lehigh  Portland  Cement  Co., 

Leiber  Co.,  H, 

"Leslie's," 

Lewis  Mfg.  Co.,  A.  F., 

Lindsay,  Forbes, 

Link  Belt  Co., 

Liquid  Carbonic  Co.,  The, 

Livingstone,  Colin  H., 

Lloyd  Braziliaro  S.  S.  Co., 

Lobdill  Car  Wheel  Co., 
Lord  &  Taylor, 
Lowe,  Francis  J., 
Lozier  Motor  Co., 
Lyon  &  Healy, 


Clarks,  La., 
Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
St.  Louis,  Mo., 
New  York  City, 
Philadelphia,  Pa., 
Delphi,  Ind., 
Buenos  Aires,  Argen., 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
St.  Louis,  Mo., 

St.  Louis,  Mo., 
Washington,  D.  C, 
New  York  City, 

Birmingham,  Ala., 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Philadelphia,  Pa., 
Allentown,  Pa., 
Indianapolis,   Ind., 
Washington,  D.  C., 
E.  Boston,  Mass., 
Philadelphia,    Pa., 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Washington,  D.  C., 
New  York  City, 

Wilmington,  Del., 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Chicago,  111., 


John  B.  White. 
Alv.  Bayard. 
Clarence  G.  Stone. 
Lorenzo  Daniels. 
Oscar  H.  Landenberger. 

J.   P.   Santamarina. 
Edward  F.  Kellie. 
Frank  A.  Branda. 
Dillwynn   M.   Hazlett. 
Edward  A.  Faust. 
Hon.  Richard  Bartholdt. 
Walter   S.   Penfield. 
Willis  Bruce  Dowd. 
John  E.  Kell. 

Wm.  C.  McDowell,  LL.D. 


Capt.  H.  A.  Reninger. 
Harry   Schowe. 
Robt.  D.  Heirl. 
Albert  F.  Lewis. 

H.  J.  Kiely. 

H.  L.  Lichtenberg. 

E.  S.  Hunter. 
J.  A.  Little. 
Chas.  F.  WTallaston. 
Otto  Kafka. 

W.  S.  M.  Mead. 
Jay  C.  Freeman. 
Vincent  E.  Healy. 


Maddaugh,  Shannon  Co.,  Inc., 
Mallory  S.  S.  Co., 
Mandell  &  Co., 
Manhattan  Rubber  Mfg.  Co., 

The, 

Manning,  Isaac  A., 
Manning,  Wm.  Ed., 
Manufacturers'  Association, 


Washington,  D.  C, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Passaic,  N.  J., 

La  Guaira,  Venezuela, 
New  York  City, 
Fitchburg,  Mass., 


Wm.  E.  Shannon. 
Edward  F.  Clements. 
K.   Mandell. 
Miss  A.  Nicoll. 

U.  S.  Consul. 
Charles  F.  Wilson. 


300 


Manufacturers'   Association,       York,  Pa., 


Manufacturers'  Association, 
Manufacturers'  Club, 
Marine  Iron  Works, 
Market  World,  The, 
Marion  Steam  Shovel  Co., 
Marquardt  &  Co.,  H., 


Marsh,  Richard  Ogelsby, 
Marshall,  Edward, 
Martin,  Jr.,  Mahlon  C, 
Marvel,  Josiah, 
Maryland  Steel  Co., 
Matthews,  Northrup  Works, 
Mattings,  Thomas  B., 
McConway    &    Torley    Co., 

The, 

McCreary,  James  B., 
McKnight,  F.  H., 
Meihle   Printing  Press   Mfg. 

Co., 

Mengel  &  Bro.  Co.,  C.  C., 
Merchant  Line  (W.  R.  Grace 

&  Co.), 
Merchants  &  Mfrs.'  Assn., 


Chattanooga,  Tenn., 
Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
Chicago,  111., 
New  York  City, 
Marion,  Ohio, 
New  York  City, 


Washington,  D.  C, 
Washington,  D.  C, 
Glen  Ridge,  N.  J., 
Wilmington,  Del., 
Baltimore,  Md., 
Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
Birmingham,  Ala., 
Pittsburg,  Pa., 

Richmond,  Ky., 
New  York  City, 
Chicago,  II, 

Louisville,  Ky., 
New  York  City, 

Baltimore,  Md., 


Merchants'  Assn.  of  N.  Y.,        New  York  City, 


Merchants'  Invest.  Co.,  The, 

Merchants  &  Mfrs.'  Mercan- 
tile Agency, 

Merchants'  Marine  Commit- 
tee of  One  Hundred, 

Mercantile  Agency, 

Mergenthaler  Linotype  Co., 

Merriam,  G.  &  C., 

Merrimac  Valley  Interests, 

Mexican  Nat'l  Railway  Lines, 

Mexican  Telephone  Co., 
Middendorf,  Williams  &  Co., 
Middleton  Car  Co., 
Minot,  Hooper  Co., 
Mittineague  Paper  Co., 
Monangah  Glass  Co., 
Montgomery  Ward  &  Co., 
Moore,  Hon.  Edw.  B., 
Morea,  Montemayor  &  Co., 


Jersey  City,  N.  J., 
New  York  City, 

New  York  City, 

Buenos  Aires,  Argen. 
New  York  City, 
Springfield,  Mass., 
Haverhill,  Mass., 
New  York  City, 

New  York  City, 
Baltimore,  Md., 
Middleton,  Pa., 
New  York  City, 
Mittineague,  Mass., 
Fairmont,  W.  Va., 
Chicago,  111., 
Washington,  D.  C., 
New  York  City, 


Robert  G.  Ault. 
James  H.  Findley. 
Robt  E.  Gephart. 
H.  F.  Temple. 
F.  B.  Wiborg. 
W.  S.  Barnes. 


C.  J.  Schramme. 
Hans  Triest. 
Wm.  A.  Ingersoll. 


F.  W.  Wood. 
Wm.  P.  Northrup. 

J.  H.  Milliken. 


Arthur  Bently. 
Sigmund  Krausz. 
J.  C.  Wickliffe. 


B.  N.  Baker. 
Frank  G.  Bailey. 
Harry  D.  Bush. 
David  H.  Carroll. 

A.  H.  Colmary. 
Douglass  Foster. 

E.  Edmunds  Foster. 
Newton  Foster. 
W.  E.  Hooper. 
Wm.  H.  Matthai. 
W.  Champ  Robinson. 
H.  M.  Thompson. 
James  R.  Thompson. 

B.  M.  Watts. 

R.  Lancaster  Williams. 
S.  C.  Mead. 
Jose  M.  Menendez. 
Wm.  F.  Grant. 


Jas.   J.   Elwell. 

Francis  B.  Purdie. 

Norman  Dodge. 

H.  W.  Baker. 

Geo.  Ward  Cook. 

W.  C.  Carson. 

Mr.  Silvernail. 

J.  Langdon  Erving. 

R.  Lancaster  Williams. 

Geo.  I.  King. 

Geo.  Nichols. 

Benj.  A.  Franklin. 

W.  D.  Howell. 
Chas.  H.  Bonean. 


301 


Morgan,  J.  P.  &  Co., 
Morris  Machine  Works, 
Mosler  Safe  Co., 
Mueller  Mfg.  Co.,  H., 
Mulford  Co.,  H.  K., 
Municipal  Eng.  &  Con.  Co., 


New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Philadelphia,  Pa., 
Chicago,  111., 


F.  H.  McKnight. 

C.  A.  Hungerford. 

David  H.  Bellamore. 

C.  T.  Ford. 

Irving  Brandt  Wellcome. 

N.  C.  Austin. 


Nagel,  Hon.  Charles, 
National  Association  of  Cot- 
ton Mfrs., 

National  Assn.  of  Mfrs., 
National  Assn.  of  Implements 

&  Vehicles, 
National     Assn.     of     Piano 

Dealers  in  America, 
National  Blank  Book  Co., 
National  Board  of  Trade, 
National  Board  of  Trade, 
National  Business  League, 
National  Candy  Co., 
National  Cash  Register  Co., 

National  City  Bank  of  N.  Y., 
National  Cotton  Mfrs.'  Assn., 
National  Electric  Lamp  Assn., 
National  Kelastone  Roofing 
Co., 

National  Malleable   Castings 

Co., 

National  Metal  Trades  Assn., 
National  Meter  Co., 

National  Rys.  of  Mexico, 
National  Municipal  League, 
National  Paint,  Oil  &  Var- 
nish Assn., 

National  Paper  &  Type  Co., 
National  Tariff  Com.  Assn., 
National  Sewing  Machine  Co., 


Manufac- 


Washington,  D.  C, 

Boston,  Mass., 
New  York  City, 

Auburn,  N.  J., 

Washington,  D.  C, 
Holyoke,  Mass., 
Washington,  D.  C., 
Philadelphia,  Pa., 
Chicago,  111., 
St.  Louis,  Mo., 
Dayton,  Ohio, 

New  York  City, 
Charlotte,  N.  C, 
Cleveland,  Ohio, 

New  York  City, 
Cleveland,  Ohio, 

Worcester,  Mass., 
New  York  City, 

New  York  City, 
Philadelphia,  Pa., 

New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 


National    Wagon 

turers'  Assn.,  Chicago,  111., 

Ness  &  Co.,  Charles  M.,  Baltimore,  Md., 

New  England  Fibre  Blanket 

Co.,  Worcester,  Mass., 

New  England  Shoe  &  Leather 

Assn., 


New  England  Trade  Devel- 
opment Co., 
Newell,  F.  H., 
Newport    News    Shipping   & 

Dry  Dock  Co., 
N.  Y.  &  Cuba  Mail  S.  S.  Co., 
N.  Y.  Journal  of  Commerce, 
N.  Y.  Shipbuilding  Co., 
Nitrate  Propaganda  of  Chile, 

Nichols,  William  S., 
Niles-Bement-Pond  Co., 
North  American  Press  Syn., 
Notley,  J.  M., 
Norton  &  Sons  S.  S.  Co., 


Boston,  Mass., 


Bridgeport,  Conn., 
Washington,  D.  C., 

Newport  News,  Va., 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Camden,  N.  J., 
New  York  City, 

New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Grand  Rapids,  Mich. 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 


Wm.  E.  Hooper. 
Wm.   M.  Benney. 
J.  C.  Elwell. 
A.  B.  Farquhar. 

O.  J.  DeMoll. 
George  A.  Savoy. 
A.  T.  Anderson. 
Frank  D.  LaLanne. 
Austin  A.  Burham. 

John  H.  Patterson. 
Edw.  A.  Deeds. 
F.  H.  McKnight. 

A.  J.  Hitzker. 

Edw.  F.  Kellie. 

C.  C.  Bauer. 

R.  H.  Pilson. 

Saml.  L.  Smith. 

Donald  Tulloch. 

John  C.  Kelley,  Jr. 

John  Norris. 

W.  C.  Carson. 

Clinton  Rogers  Woodruff. 

F.   S.  Chessman. 
Harrison  C.  Lewis. 
Henry  T.  Wills. 
E.  L.  Green. 
Geo.  H.  Hakes. 

A.  B.  Farquhar. 
Chas.  M.  Ness. 

Theo.  T.  Ellis. 

Arthur  Butman. 
Harry  I.  Thayer. 

W.  S.  Boate. 


Fred  J.  Gauntlett. 
Marcos  J.  Trazivuk. 
H.  Park  Willis. 

Wm.  S.  Myers,  Director. 
Chas.  J.  Dyer. 

M.  McA.  Smith. 
C.  N.  Mather. 
Jas.  N.  Notley. 
Joseph  S.  Lilly. 


302 


Ohio  Brass  Co., 
Ohio  Hardware  Assn., 
Ohio  Suspender  Co., 
Ohio  Valley  Pulley  Works, 
Oliva,  Julian, 

Oliver  Iron  &  Steel  Co.,  The, 
Orarie,  J.  R, 
Ostby  &  Barton  Co., 

Oregon  &  Washington  Lum- 
ber Mfrs/  Assn., 
Otis  Elevator  Co., 


Mansfield,  Ohio, 
Mansfield,  Ohio, 
Mansfield,  Ohio, 
Maysville,   Ky., 
New  York  City, 
Pittsburg,  Pa., 
Worcester,  Mass., 
Providence,  R.  I., 


Portland,  Ore., 
New  York  City, 


E.  F.  Wickwire. 
Frank  A.  Bare. 
D.  L.  Zahniser. 
George  J.  Lowe. 

Henry  L.  Lupton. 

Erling  C.  Ostby. 
Harold  W.  Ostby. 

Russell  Hawkins. 
W.  N.  Dickinson. 


Paff,  Hon.  F.  J.   (Mayor), 
Page  Woven  Wire  Fence  Co. 

The, 
Pan  American  R.  R., 

Panama  R.  R.  S.  S.  Line, 
Parsons  Trading  Co.. 
Patterson,  John  H., 
Patton  Paint  Co., 

Peck  &  Co.,  William  E., 
Peek  &  Velsor, 
Peerless  Rubber  Mfg.  Co., 
Penn.  Am.  Plate  Glass  Co., 
Penn  Metal  Ceiling  &  Roof- 
ing Co.,  The, 

Pennsylvania  State  College, 
Peoria  Drill  &  Seeder  Co., 
Perfectol  Co.,  The, 
Perkins  Campbell  Co.,  The, 
Perkins  Windmill  Co., 
"Peru  Today," 
Pfister  &  Vogel  Leather  Co., 


Alexandria,  Va., 

Adrian,  Mich., 
New  York  City, 

New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Dayton,  Ohio, 
Milwaukee,  Wis., 

New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Pittsburg,  Pa., 

Boston,  Mass., 
State  College,  Pa., 
Peoria,  111., 
Philadelphia,  Pa., 
Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
Mishawaka,  Ind., 
Lima,  Peru, 
Milwaukee,  Wis., 


Philadelphia  Com.  Museum,      Philadelphia,  Pa., 


Pilling  Mfg.  Co., 

Phoenix    and    Maricopa    Co. 

Board  of  Trade, 
Pittsburg  Equipment  Co., 
Pittsburg  Meter  Co., 
Pittsburg  Steel  Foundry  Co., 
Pittsburg  Testing  Co., 
Plume  &  Atwood  Mfg.  Co., 
Popular  Mechanics'  Magazine, 
Port       Huron       Engine       & 

Thresher  Co., 
Powers  Co.,  F.  E., 
Pratt  &  Lambert, 

Prentice  Bros.  Co., 
Prince  Steamship  Line, 
Prouty  &  Co.,  Isaac,  Inc., 
Progressive  Union, 

Publicity  Bureau, 
Purdie,  Francis  B., 


Philadelphia,  Pa., 

Phoenix,  Ariz., 
Pittsburg,  Pa., 
Pittsburg,  Pa., 
Pittsburg,  Pa., 
Pittsburg,  Pa., 
Waterbury,  Conn., 
Chicago,  111., 

New  York  City, 
Worcester,  Mass., 
Buffalo,  N.  Y., 

Worcester,  Mass., 
New  York  City, 
Boston,  Mass., 
New  Orleans,  La., 

Atlantic  City,  N.  J.: 
St.  Joseph,  Mo., 


C.  M.  Lamb. 

W.  D.   H.   Washington. 

J.  J.  McKelvey. 

Marsh  Parsons. 

Jas.  E.  Patton,  Jr. 
G.  D.  White. 
Daniel  Linde. 
Jos.  A.  Velsor. 

W.  L.  Kann. 

Geo.  A.  Sagendorph. 
Edwin  A.  Cottrell. 
David  S.  Hays. 
Henry  Roemer. 
Frank  B.  Conger. 

John  Vavasour  Noel. 

H.  M.  Greenwood. 

Fred  A.  Vogel. 

Dr.  W.  P.  Wilson,  Director. 

Dudley  Bartlett. 

A.  B.  Anderson. 

W.  C.  Barnes. 
E.  R.  Williams. 
T.  C.  Clifford. 

E.  R.  Williams. 
H.  A.  Schofield. 
Wm.  W.  Magee. 
H.  H.  Windson. 

David  S.  Hays. 

F.  L.  Powers. 
J.  H.  McMulty. 
Harold  D.  Webster. 
Albert  E.  Newton. 
Paul  F.  Gerhard. 
Lewis  I.  Prouty. 
Walter  D.  Denegue. 
James  W.  Porch. 
Geo.  S.  Lenhart. 


Quaker  Oats  Co., 


Chicago,  111., 
303 


J.  A.  Sim. 


Randall-Faichney  Co., 
Ransome  Concrete  Machinery 

Co., 

Raposa,  Louis, 
Raymond  &  Whitcomb  Co., 
Read  Machinery  Co., 

Reading  Hardware  Co., 
Red  "D"  Steamship  Line, 
Reed  &  Barton, 
Rets  &  Sons  Co.,  John, 
Reinforced  Concrete  Pipe  Co., 

Remington  Arms  Co., 

Remington  Oil  Engine  Co., 
Remington  Typewriter  Co., 
Rennous,  Kleinle  &  Co., 
Republic  Iron  &  Steel  Co., 

Revere  Rubber  Co., 
"Revista  Americana  de  Far- 
macia  y  Medicina," 

Rice  &  Hutchins,  Inc., 
Ringgold,  Wm.  H., 
Rock  Island  Plow  Co., 
Rogers,  Brown  &  Co., 
Rojas-Hutcheson  Co., 
Rosenberg  Motor  &  Mfg.  Co., 

A., 

Rosenstern  &  Co.,  F., 
Sydney  Ross  Co., 
Royal  Mail  Steam  Packet  Co., 
Royer  Wheel  Co.,  The, 
Royal  Worcester  Corset  Co., 
Russell,  Erwin  Mfg.  Co., 

Saco  &  Pettee  Mach.  Shops, 

Salmagundi  Club, 

Sanford  Mfg.  Co., 

Sanitary  Street  Flushing  Ma- 
chine Co., 

Sanitary  Water  Still  Co., 
The, 

Santamarina,  J.  P., 

Schmidt  &  Ault  Paper  Co., 

Schramme,  Carl  J., 

Scripps-McRae  League  of 
Newspapers, 

Second  International  Brew- 
ers' Assn., 

Securities  Co.  of  N.  Amer., 
Selby  Shoe  Co., 
Seligman  &  Co,  J.  W., 
Sharp  &  Dohme, 

Shantz,  M.  B, 
Shaw- Walker  Co, 
Sheier  Co,  C.  T, 
Shelby  Shoe  Co,  The, 
Sherrill,  C.  H, 
Sherwin-Williams  Co, 


Boston,  Mass, 

Dunellen,  N.  J, 
Philadelphia,  Pa, 
New  York  City, 
York,  Pa, 

Reading,  Pa, 
New  York  City, 
Taunton,  Mass, 
Pittsburg,  Pa, 
Jackson,  Mich, 

llion.  N.  Y., 

Stamford,  Conn, 
New  York  City, 
Baltimore,  Md, 
Pittsburg,  Pa, 

New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 

Boston,  Mass, 
New  York  City, 
Rock  Island,  111, 
Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
New  York  City, 

Baltimore,  Md, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Aurora,  Ind, 
Worcester,  Mass, 
New  York  City, 

Biddeford,  Me, 
New  York  City, 
Sanford,  N.  C, 

St.  Louis,  Mo., 

Jamaica,  N.  Y, 
New  York  City, 
York,  Pa, 
New  York  City, 

Detroit,  Mich, 


Chicago,  111, 
Wilmington,  Del, 
Portsmouth,  Ohio, 
New  York  City, 
Baltimore,  Md, 

Rochester,  N.  Y, 
Muskegon,  Mich., 
Worcester,  Mass, 
Portsmouth,  Ohio, 
New  York  City, 
Cleveland,  Ohio, 


304 


Harry  H.  Olcott 
A.  W.  Ransome. 

H.  H.  Crunden,  LL.D. 
H.  Read. 

D.  W.  R.  Read. 

Fred  A.  Dallett 
R.  F.  Mackendrich. 
Thomas  M.  Rees. 
Wm.  J.  Samuels. 

E.  F.  Lowery. 

F.  Behr. 

F.  B.  Clark. 
George  J.  Lowe. 
Paul  R.  Mahony. 
Wm.  P.  Bigelow. 
Frank  Phalen. 
Chas.  T.  Johnson. 
Geo.  A.  Gardner. 

Caswell  A.  Mayo. 

Dr.  Luis  D.  de  Medina. 


David  S.  Hays. 
Alejandro  Rojas. 

Albert  Rosenberg. 
Max  Mendel. 
F.  L.  Upjohn. 
Mr.  Nash. 

Edwin  J.  Seward. 
M.  Stanley. 

Chas.  A.  Pope. 
H.  M.  Weller. 

Chas.  Sutter. 
John   A.    Power. 
Robt.  A.  G.  Ault. 


Milton  A.  McRae. 
James  L.  Lee. 

Henry   E.   O.    Heinemann. 
Edw.  F.  Clements. 
Roger  A.  Selby. 
Wm.   S.  Cox. 
Alfred  R.  L.  Dohme. 
Diaz  A.  Guerra. 

C.  W.  Norton. 
H.  W.  Estabrook. 
Roger  A.  Shelby. 

Walter   H.    Cottingham. 
H.  L.  Gemberling. 


Shipley  Construction  &  Sup- 
ply Co., 

Shipping  League  of  Balto., 

Shredded  Wheat  Co.,  The, 

Silver,  Burdett  &  Co., 

Simmons  Hardware  Co., 

Simmonds  Mfg.  Co., 

Smith  Co.,  H.  B., 

Smith  Co.,  M.  H., 

Smith  Premier  Typewriter 
Co., 

Smith,  Thomas  W., 

Southern  Commercial  Con., 

Southern  Cotton  Oil  Co., 
Southern     Cotton     Spinners' 


New  York  City, 
Baltimore,  Md., 
Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y. 
Boston,  Mass., 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 

Syracuse,  N.  Y., 
Washington,  D.  C, 
Washington,  D.  C., 

New  York  City, 


Adrain  H.  Boole. 
Chilion  P.  Conger. 
Wm.  M.  Hatch. 
F.  W.  Gregory. 
L.  A.  Kimball. 
J.  C.  Faulkner. 
Martin  H.  Smith. 

Wm.  Allan  Dyer. 

Edward  L.  Quarles. 
Clarence  J.  Owens. 
John  Murray. 


Assn., 

Charlotte,  N.  C, 

W.  E.  Hooper. 

Southern  Marble  Co., 

Worcester,  Mass., 

W.  C.  Tobin. 

Southern  Mfrs.  Club, 

Charlotte,  N.  C, 

S.  B.  Tanner. 

C.  W.  Thompson. 

A.  Arthur  Draper. 

E.  W.  Thompson. 

L.  A.  Lockwood. 

Spanish-American  Bureau, 

New  York  City, 

Miss  H.  E.  Brown. 

Spirittine  Chemical  Co.,  The, 

Wilmington,  Del., 

Chilion  P.  Conger. 

Sprague  Meter  Co.,  The, 

Bridgeport,  Conn., 

H.  H.  Sprague. 

Sprout,  Waldron  &  Co., 

Mussey,  Pa., 

Geo.  J.  Lowe. 

Squire  Mfg.  Co.,  Geo.  L., 

Buffalo,  N.  Y., 

H.  C.  Rice. 

Geo.  L.  Squire. 

St.  John  &  Co.,  H.  W., 

New  York  City, 

John  H.  Hunter. 

Standard  Boiler  &  Plate  Iron 

Co., 

Niles,  Ohio, 

E.  A.  Gilbert. 

Standard  Chain  Co., 

Pittsburg,  Pa., 

C.  M.  Power. 

Standard  Optical  Co., 

Geneva,  N.  Y., 

W.  W.  Page. 

Standard  Sanitary  Mfg.  Co., 

Pittsburg,  Pa., 

Chas.  A.  Pope. 

F.  R.  Johnson. 

Standard  Steel  Car  Co., 

Pittsburg,  Pa., 

Geo.  I.  King. 

Standard  Tool  Co., 

Cleveland,  Ohio, 

Standard  Underground  Cable 

Co., 

Pittsburg,  Pa., 

Chas.  J.  Marsh. 

P.  H.  W.  Smith. 

Stanley  Works,  The, 

New  York  City, 

Edw.  H.  Hart. 

Starr  &  Herald  Co., 

Panama, 

Carlos  R.  Duque. 

Starr  Piano  Co.,  The, 

Richmond,  Ind., 

M.  L.  McGinnis. 

State  College, 

State  College,  Pa., 

Edwin  A.  Cottrell. 

Staudt  &  Co., 

Boston,  Mass., 

Oscar  S.  Bauer. 

Stearns  Co.,  E.  C, 

Syracuse,  N.  Y., 

Stetson  Co.,  John  B., 

Philadelphia,  Pa., 

A.  J.  Freeman. 

Stephens  Adamson  Mfg.  Co., 

Aurora,  111., 

W.  W.  Stephens. 

Stewart  &  Co.,  James, 

New  York  City, 

J.  C.  Stewart. 

Chas.  Sutter. 

Stolts,  J.  &  J.  W., 

New  York  City, 

Frank  B.  Conger. 

Stratton  &  Bragg  Co., 

Petersburg,  Va., 

H.  P.  Stratton. 

Stromberg-Carlson, 

Rochester,  N.  Y., 

Harry  C.  Slemin. 

Studebaker  Bros.  Mfg.  Co., 

So.  Bend,  Ind., 

Fredk.  S.  Fisk. 

C.  Studebaker,  Jr. 

Stutesma-n,  Hon.  James  T., 

Washington,  D.  C., 

"Sun,  The,"  _ 

Baltimore,  Md., 

Ward  H.  Mills. 

Suriana   Mining  &   Smelting 

Co., 

New  York  City, 

Edward  O.  Holter. 

Sweet,  Orr  &  Co., 

New  York  City, 

Acton  Gerlach. 

Telephone  Mfg.  Co., 
Temple,  H.  F., 
Tennant  Sons  &  Co.,  C., 


Rochester,  N.  Y., 
Chattanooga,  Tenn. 
New  York  City, 

305 


Harry  C.  Slemin. 
E.  A.  Lemon. 


Texas  Co.,  The, 
Thayer,  Foss  Co., 
Thissell,  Berton  A., 
Thomas  Co.,  L.  H., 
Thompson,  Alfred  J., 
Thorpe  Co.,  Richard, 


Houston,  Tex., 
Boston,   Mass., 
Washington,  D.  C, 
Chicago,  111., 
New  York  City, 
Philadelphia,  Pa., 


Travelers  &  Merchants'  Assn.,     Baltimore,   Md., 


Trenton  Potteries  Co., 

True  Shape  Hosiery  Co., 
Turner  Co.,  J.  Spencer, 
Turner,  J., 

Union  Bag  &  Paper  Co., 
Union  Carbide  Sales  Co., 
Union  Carbide  Co., 


Union  Iron  Works  Co., 
Union  Metallic  Cartridge  Co., 

Union  Stove  Works,  The, 
United  Fruit  Co., 
United  Handle  Mills, 
U.  S.  Envelope  Co., 
U.  S.  Geological  Survey, 

U.  S.  Glass  Co, 
U.  S.  Hame  Co., 
U.  S.  Motor  Car  Co., 
U.  S.  Playing  Card  Co, 
U.  S.  Reclamation  Service, 
United  Shoe  Machinery  Co., 
U.  S.  Steel  Corporation, 
U.  S.  Steel  Products  Co, 


U.  S.  Trade  Mark  Assn., 
Universal  Peace  Union, 
University,  Columbia, 
University,  Howard, 
University,  Harvard, 
University,  Johns  Hopkins, 

University  of  N.  Dakota, 
University,  Lehigh, 

University  of  Pennsylvania, 
University  of  Pittsburg, 

University  of  S.  Dakota, 
University  of  Virginia, 

University  of  Washington, 
University,  Yale, 


Trenton,  N.  J, 

Philadelphia,   Pa, 
New  York  City, 
Philadelphia,  Pa, 

New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 


San  Francisco,  Ca!. 
Bridgeport,  Conn, 

New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Worcester,    Mass, 
Washington,  D.  C, 

Pittsburg,  Pa, 
Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
New  York  City, 
Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
Washington,  D.  C, 
Boston,  Mass, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 


New  York  City, 
Philadelphia,  Pa, 
New  York  City, 
Washington,  D.  C, 
Cambridge,  Mass, 
Baltimore,  Md, 

Grand  Forks,  N.  D, 
S.  Bethlehem,  Pa, 

Philadelphia,    Pa, 
Pittsburg,  Pa, 

Vermillion,  S.  D, 
Charlottesville,  Va, 

Seattle,  Wash, 
New  Haven,  Conn, 

306 


Charles  Cooper. 
Harry  I.  Thayer. 

Frank  B.  Conger. 

W.  H.  Thorpe. 
L.  H.  Fehsenfeld. 
Wm.  H.  Fehsenfeld. 
Hans  Von  Marees. 
Florence  McCarthy. 
W.  H.  Malthie. 
N.   M.   Parrott. 
M.  C.  Woodward. 
Jno.  A.  Campbell. 
J.  N.  Kise. 
Ernest  Blood. 
Howard  H.  Metz. 


Albert  E.  Osborn. 
J.  R.  Cranford. 
C.  T.  Ayres. 
R.  G.  Noble. 
A.  C.  Morrison. 
Wm.    H.    Bunker. 
F.   B.  Clark. 
F.  Behr. 

William  H.  Myers. 
Dr.  Ulloa. 
R.  W.  Ford. 
Donald  D.  Logan. 
Havland  Bancroft. 
R.  B.  Dole. 
Marion  G.  Bryce. 
Harry  T.  Turner. 

E.  W.  Davenport. 
C.  L.  Coffin. 

F.  H.  Newell. 
L.  A.  Coolidge. 
J.  A.  Farrell. 

J.  A.  Farrell. 

E.  P.  Thomas. 

Henry  L.  Jones. 

John  Hughes. 

James  B.  Bonner. 

Arthur  Wm.  Barber. 

Mrs.  Belva  A.  Lockwood. 

Prof.  Wm.  R.  Shepherd. 

Oscar  L.  Milmore. 

Oscar  L.  Milmore. 

Ira  Remsen,  LL.D. 

Prof.  J.  H.  Hollander. 

Henry  Hinds. 

Dr.  Sturgis  Drinker. 

Henry  S.  Drinker,  L.L.D. 

Dr.  L.  S.  Rowe. 

Dr.  E.  O.  Sissons. 

Saml.  B.  McCormick. 

Geo.  Rice,  Jr. 

Lars  J.  Granager. 

Prof.  Thomas  Walker  Page, 

Ph.D.,  LL.D. 
Thos..  F.  Kane,  Ph.D. 
Prof.  Hiram  Bingham. 


Van  Dyke,  H.  W., 
Vermont  Marble  Co., 


Washington,  D.  C, 
Proctor,  Vt, 


Vermont     Unfading     Green    Fair  Haven,  Vt, 
Slate  Co., 


D.  H.  Bixler. 

W.  E.  Higbee. 

J.  Pinckney  H.  Adams. 


Victor  Talking  Machine  Co.,     Camden,  N.  J., 


Waite  Thresher  Co., 


Providence,  R.  I., 


Wallace  Wilson  Hosiery  Co.,     Philadelphia,  Pa., 


Walworth  Mfg.  Co., 
Wanamaker,  John, 


Wanamaker,  John, 
Warner,  Oscar, 
Warner  &  Swasey  Co., 
Washington   Star,   The, 
Waterman  &  Co.,  L.  E., 

Weingartin   Bros., 
Weissbroad  &  Sons,  Emil, 
Wellman,    Seaver,   Morgan 

Co., 

Wessels,  Kulenkampff  Co., 
W.  Reserve  University, 

Western  Electric  Co., 

Western     Electrical     Instru- 
ment Co., 

Western  Maryland  R.  R.  Co., 
Western  Newspaper  Union, 

Westinghouse  Air  Brake  Co., 
Westinghouse  Air  Brake  Co., 
Westinghouse  Elec.  &  Mfg. 

Co., 
Westinghouse   Elec.   &   Mfg. 

Co., 
Westinghouse    Machine    Co., 

The, 

Westinghouse  Elec.  Mfg.  Co., 
W.  Va.  Board  of  Trade  and 

Wheeling  Board  of  Trade 
Whitcomb-Blaisdell   Machine 

Tool  Co., 
White  Co., 

White  &  Co.,  Inc.,  J.  G., 
White  Dental  Mfg.  Co.,  S.  S., 
White  Sewing  Machine  Co., 
Williams,  Arthur, 
Williams  &  Co.,  John  D., 
Williams    Patent    Crusher   & 

Pulv.  Co., 

Williams  Shipping  Agency, 
Willys-Overland  Co., 
Winchell  &  Co.,  J.  H., 
Wood  &  Co.,  R.  D., 
Wood  Products  Co., 
Woodward-Baldwin  &  Co., 
Worthington,  Henry  R., 
Wright,  Mrs.  Robinson, 
Wurlitzer  Co.,  Rudolph, 


Boston,  Mass., 
New  York  City, 


Philadelphia,  Pa., 
New  York  City, 
Cleveland,  Ohio, 
Washington,  D.  C, 
New  York  City, 

New  York  City, 
Greenfield,  Mass., 
Cleveland,  Ohio, 

New  York  City, 
Cleveland,  Ohio, 

New  York  City, 
Newark,  N.  J., 

Baltimore,  Md., 
Chicago,  111., 

New  York  City, 
Pittsburg,  Pa., 
New  York  City, 

Pittsburg,  Pa., 
Pittsburg,  Pa., 

Washington,  D.  C, 
Wheeling,  W.  Va., 


Chas.  J.  Willard. 
Henry  G.  Thresher. 
Wallace  Wilson. 
W.  P.  R  Hyer. 
Frank  B.  Conger. 
George  Robinson. 
William  Sidebottom. 
Jos.  H.  Apple. 

W.  L.  Warner. 

M.  W.  Flynn. 

William  H.  Kernan. 

F.  D.  Waterman. 

Otto  Kafka. 

Willis  H.  Weissbroad. 


Wm.  C.  Downs. 
Chas.  F.  Thwing,  D.D. 
Wm.  E.  Curtis. 
J.  J.  Gilbert. 
Fredk.  H.  Leggett. 
Caxton  Brown. 
Edward  F.  Weston. 
Austin  Gallagher. 
Wright  A.  Patterson. 
Edward  B.  Clark. 

E.  A.  Craig. 
Maurice  Coster. 

Maurice  Coster. 
Maurice  Coster. 

H.  M.  Southgate. 
R.  B.  Naylor. 


Worcester,  Mass.,  Charles  E.  Hildreth. 


Cleveland,  Ohio, 
New  York  City, 
Philadelphia,  Pa., 
Cleveland,  Ohio, 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
St.  Louis,  Mo., 

New  York  City, 
Toledo,  Ohio, 
Haverhill,  Mass., 
Philadelphia,  Pa., 
Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
Baltimore,  Md., 
New  York  City, 
New  York  City, 
Cincinnati,  Ohio, 


W.  W.  Chase. 
T.  C.  Gillespie. 
Robert  E.  Mercer. 
W.  W.  Chase. 

John  D.  Williams. 
W.  A.  Dunham. 

Raymond  V.  Williams. 

Paul  J.  Richard. 
Chas.  R.  Wood. 
Norman  M.  Pierce.' 
Willard  Baldwin. 
D.  J.  Gibson. 


307 


Yale  &  Towne  Mfg.  Co.,  New  York  City,  W.  J.  Marsden. 

Yawman  &  Erbe  Mfg.  Co.,        Rochester,  N.  Y.,  H.  P.  Rockwell. 

York  Mfrs.  Assn.,  York,  Pa.,  A.   B.  Farquhar. 

Jas.  H.  Findley. 

Robt.  E.  Gephart. 

York  Safe  &  Lock  Co.,  York,  Pa.,  S.  Forry  Laucks. 

York  Wall  Paper  Co.,  York,  Pa.,  J.  H.  Findley. 

Young  Co.,  Richard,  New  York  City,  Hon.  Richard  Young. 

Youngstown    Steel    &    Tube     Youngstown,   Ohio,        William  E.  Manning. 
Co.,  Chas.  E.  Mclnnes. 


308 


INDEX 


ADAMS,  FRANKLIN   77,    78 

ADVERTISING. 112,  113,  162,  163,  216,  217,  269,  272,  273,  279 

Argentine    Republic 48,    79 

Bids 79 

Brazil    1 17,  132 

Haiti  78 

AGENTS 36,  55,  188,  189,  198,  199,  218,  219,  269 

American  Houses 171,  192,  216 

Brazil   • 132 

Territory  of • 117 

AGENCIES 37,  38,    45 

AGRICULTURAL  IMPLEMENTS  AND  MACHINERY. 

Colombia    31,     32 

Venezuela    31,    32 

AGRICULTURAL  IMPLEMENTS. 

Paraguay   239 

ALLEN,  ELMER  H 206 

AMERICAN  HOUSES. 

Field  for  in  South  America 171,  192,  216 

ANDES,   TREASURES   OF 16 

ARBITRATION,  INTERNATIONAL. 

Central  America 253 

ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC. 

Advertising   in 48,    79 

Address  of  Charge  d'Affaires,  Jacinto  L.  Villegas „ 41 

Address  of  J.  P.  Santamarina 43 

Attitude  of  Toward  United   States 192 

Climate,  Products  and  General  Characteristics  of 19 

Commercial  Chart   50 

Currency  of 44 

Duties  on  Samples  in 59 

Effect  of  U.  S.  Tariff  on  Exports  of 42 

Exports  of 42,    43 

Extension  of  Trade  in 204 

Failures   in 204 

Flour  Mills  in 47 

Foreign  Trade  of 162,  254 

Imports  of 156,  161,  168 

Investments  in 122,  156 

Markets  of 44,  45,  47,  48,  49,  136,  161 

Meters  in 46 

Need  of  American  Banks  in 44 

Proportion  of  Credit  Extended  to  Capital  Invested  in 203 

Quality  of  Clothing  Worn  in 47,    48 

Railways  in 20,  136 

Registration  of  Trade-marks  in 205,  206 

Tariff   of 207 

Tax  on  Commercial  Travelers  in 59,    61 

Trade-marks  Laws  of 59,  204,  205 

Trade  of  with  U.  S 42,  83,  156,  161,  162,  188,  192,  203 

U.  S.  Parcels  Post  with 225 

Use  of  Cash  Registers  in . 44,    45 

ARIZAGA,  RAFAEL  M.,  Minister  from  Ecuador 67 

AUSTIN,  O.  P.,  of  Bureau  of  Statistics,  Department  Commerce  and  Labor...  138,  142 

AUTOMOBILES. 

Market  for  in  Pan  America 137 

309 


BAHIA  DE  CARAQUEZ. 

Ecuador    6?>    68 

BAKER,  BERNARD  N.,  of  Baltimore 93,  95,  96,    49 

BAKERS'  SUPPLIES. 

Market  for  in  Venezuela 35 

Market  for  in  Colombia 35 

BALBOA. 

Port   of 94 

BALDWIN,  A.  H.,  Chief  of  Bureau  of  Manufactures , 149,  152,  153 

BANKS,  AMERICAN.  

Demand  for  in  Latin  America 23,  27,  44,  55,  71,  99,  115,  122, 

125,  126,  131,  143,  171,  192,  222,  223,  242,  268,  289 

Exchange  of  Brazil 224 

Relation  of  to  Commerce 233,  264 

BANKS. 

Facilities  of  in  South  American  Trade 181 

BANKS   (FOREIGN). 

South  America 20 

BANK  (INTERNATIONAL). 

Mission  of 16 

BANKS. 

Credits  189 

BANKS  (PERUVIAN). 

Peru 39 

BANKS  (PANAMAIAN). 

Panama   99 

BANKING. 

Reciprocity   in 223 

BARBOSA,  J.  E 59,  79,    81 

BARGES. 

Use  of  in  Connection  with  Panama  Canal 94,    95 

BARTLETT,  DUDLEY 162,  231 

BARRANCO,  CESAR  A 102 

BARRETT,  JOHN. 

Address  of  Welcome 14 

"All  America"  252 

"Get  Ready  for  the  Panama  Canal" 251 

Selection  of  as  Head  of  Pan  American  Union 26 

Work  of  as  Director  General  of  Pan  American  Union 19 

BAYARD,  ALVA  47 

BENGOECHEA,  RAMON 261 

BENNEY,  WILLIAM  M.,  of  the  National  Association  of  Manufacturers 237 

BEEF. 

Argentine   Republic 42 

BEESWAX. 

Haiti 76 

BICYCLES. 

Market   for  in   Uruguay 161 

BIDS. 

Advertising  of 79 

ELAINE,  JAMES  G. 

Achievement  of  in  Initiating  Pan  American  Policy 15,    21 

As  Presiding  Officer  of  First  Conference  of  American  States 257 

Relation  of  to  Pan  American  Railway  Project 96 

310 


BOLIVIA. 

Address  by  Bolivian  Minister,  Ignacio  Calderon 18 

Commercial   Chart   60 

Imports  of  Cotton  Goods  to 168 

Railways  in 20,  253 

Topography,  Climate,  Products  and  General  Characteristics  of 19 

Transportation  Lines 98 

BOLIVAR    PUERTO    69 

BORDA,  FRANCISCO  DE  P.,  Minister  from  Colombia 107 

BOOTS  AND  SHOES. 

Market  for  in  Argentine  Republic 48 

Markets  for  in  Brazil 273 

Methods  of  Extending  Market  for 282,  283 

BOTTLES. 

Packing  of 157 

BOYCOTT. 

Commission    Houses 199 

BRANDA,  FRANK  A 101 

BRANDS. 

Cottons,    Manufactured 172 

Effect  of 182,  183 

BRAZIL. 

Address  of  Brazilian  Vice  Consul,  Francisco  G.  Pereira  Leao 113 

Address  of  U.  S.  Consul  General,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Julius  G.  Lay 129 

Advertising    in 117,  132 

Agents  in 59,  61,  132,  133 

American  Exchange  in 224 

American  Foreign  Service  in 133 

American  Ignorance    of  Opportunities  in 131 

Commercial  Chart   70 

Competency  of  Merchants  of 118 

Cottonseed  Oil  Factories  of 129 

Demand  for  American  Banks  in 115,  268 

Effect  of  Tariff  Upon  Trade  of  with  U.  S 115,  116 

Employment  of  American  Capital  in 271 

European   Investments   in 131 

Foreign  Trade  of 254 

Imports  of 129,  168 

Language 136 

Markets  of 115,  129,  131,  243,  273 

Opportunities  for  Investments  in 117,  267,  268 

Packing  of  Goods  Received  in 128 

Parcels  Post  Convention  of  with  United  States 225,  273 

Railways  in '. 19,  118,  129 

Schools  of 126,  228 

Sugar  Refineries  of 129 

Tariff  of 105,  207,  208,  209,  211 

Tax  on  Samples  in 59 

Topography,  Climate,  Products  and  General  Characteristics  of.  ...19,  113, 

114,  115,  118,  253,  271 

Trade  Conditions  in 268 

Trade  of  with  United  States 23,  54,  83,  88,  114,  115,  116,  117,  131,  173, 

188,  265,  266,  267 

Transportation  Facilities  of 57,  133,  178,  179 

Weaving    Mills    of 129 

BRODERICK,  JOHN  K 109 

BROWNELL,  ATHERTON  127 

BUENOS  AIRES. 

Population    of 253 

BUNKER,  WILLIAM  M 183,  236 


BUREAUS. 

Chicago  Association  of  Commerce ISo 

Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor 149 

Reclamation    Bureau 2T9 

Work  of  Pan  American 149,  151,  152,  207 

Trade  Lists  of T53 

BUTMAN,  ARTHUR  B.,  Expert  on  Market  for  Boots  and  Shoes 282 

C 

CACAO. 

Haiti    76 

CALDERON,  IGNACIO,  Minister  from  Bolivia 18 

CALVO,  JOAQUIN  B.,  Minister  from  Costa  Rica 16 

CAPITAL. 

Brazil   271 

Credits 203 

Investment  of  by  United  States  in  Latin  America 82,    84 

CASASUS,  JOAQUIN  D.,  Former  Ambassador  from  Mexico 21 

CASH  REGISTERS. 

In  Argentine  Republic 44>    45 

National  Cash  Register  Co 231,  232,  233,  234 

CASTRILLO,  SALVADOR,  Minister  from  Nicaragua 73 

CASTRO,  DE  ALFREDO,  Charge  D'Affaires  of  Uruguay 119 

CARNEGIE,    ANDREW 1 8,  96,  257 

CATALOGUES. 

Necessity  for  Printing  in  Spanish 104,  278,  279 

CATTLE. 

Panama   102 

CEMENT. 

Market  for  in  Brazil 129,  131 

CENTRAL  AMERICA. 

Amount  of  Foreign  Commerce  of 16,     17 

Exports   of    83,    84 

General  Features  of 17 

Influence  Upon  of  Panama  Canal 16 

Initiation  by  Republics  of  Plan  for  International  Arbitration 253 

CHANDLER,  CHARLES  L 113,  136,  161,  204,  205,  206,  216,  244 

CHICAGO  ASSOCIATION  OF  COMMERCE. 

South  American  Bureau  of 159 

CHILE. 

Address  of  Charge  d'Affaires,  Alberto  M.  Yoacham 143 

American  Influence  Upon  Education  of 228 

Attitude  of  Toward  United  States 192 

British  Investments  in 122 

Commercial  Chart   90 

Currency  of 146,  182,  188 

Development  of  Newspapers  and  Printing  Trade  in 147 

Foreign  Trade  of 254 

Imports  of  Cotton  Goods  to 168 

Manufactures  of 145 

Nitrate,   Production  of 277,  278 

Railways    in 20 

Requisites  of  Commercial  Travelers  in 146,  147 

Tariff  of 145,  146 

Topography,  Climate,  Products  and  General  Characteristics  of.. 19,  143,  145,  146 
Trade  with  United  States 83,  145,  146,  188,  192 

CLARK,  HON.  CHAMP,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives 25 

CLARK,  W.  A.  GRAHAM,  Textile  Expert  to  Tariff  Board 168,  172 

312 


CLARK,  P.  R 37 

CLOTHING. 

Argentine    Republic 47,    48 

COAL. 

Colombia  109 

Peru    46 

CODES. 

Cuba  65 

COLOMBIA. 

Advertising  in 79 

Agricultural  Implements  in 31,  32 

American  Machinery  in 109 

Coal   Deposits  of 109 

Commercial  Chart    80 

Communication  from  Colombian  Minister,  Francisco  de  P.  Borda 107 

Electrical   Developments  in 108,  109 

Illiteracy    in 35 

Markets  of 34,  35,  109,  168 

Newspapers   in 35 

Opportunities   in   for   Investment 225 

Packing  of  Goods  Arriving  in 36 

Situation  of  in  Relation  to  Panama  Canal 108 

Tariff   Regulations   of ' 61,  62 

Timber   of 108,  109 

Topography,  Climate,  Products  and  General  Characteristics  of.  19,  30,  31,  32,  107 

Trade  with  United  States 33,  83 

COLON. 

Port    at 94 

COMMERCE. 

Dominican  Republic 260,  261 

Central  America  16 

Japan    177 

Madeira-Mamore    Railway 134 

Panama   Canal 99 

Peru    39 

COMMERCE  CHARTS. 

North  America  : 28 

South  America   29 

COMMERCIAL  OPPORTUNITIES. 

Methods  of  Securing  Information  Concerning 131,  132 

COMMERCIAL    POSSIBILITIES 93 

COMMERCIAL  RELATIONS. 

Absence  of  Politics  in 234 

Basis  for 197 

Haiti  and  United  States 74,  75,  76 

Impediments  to  Promotion  of 82 

Porto  Rico 241 

Understanding  of 247 

World    Peace , 247,  248 

COMMERCIAL  TRAVELERS. 

Chile     146 

In  South  America 171 

Tax    on 105 

COMMERCIAL  TRAVELERS,  AMERICAN. 

Qualities    of 202 

COMMISSION  HOUSES. 

American    Houses I71 

Co-operation  of  Manufacturers  with 198,  IQ9 

Haiti  78 

COMMITTEES. 

On  Resolutions  Concerning  Director  General  Barrett 227,  236,  237 

313 


COMPETITION. 

Argentine  Republic IO2 

As  Affecting  Products  of  Same  Class •'•••'' 2l6 

Comparison  of  Foreign  and  American  Business  Methods 33 

Effect  of  Upon  Price 205 

English    IQ4 

German    IO4 

Goods,   American I26 

Merchant  Marine : '••":••: : 53 

Methods  of  American  and  Foreign  Manufacturers  in  Latin  America.  .217,  218 

Peru    39 

South   America I25 

Steamships    40,  41,    87 

United    States I H,  *39 

CONSIGNMENTS. 

Attitude  of  American  Manufacturers  Toward 32 

Methods  of  Arranging  for 36 

CONSULAR  SERVICE. 

Co-operation  of  American  Business  Men  with 148,  149 

Development  and   Efficiency  of 24,  25,  51,  236 

Foreign    Service 89 

CONSUMERS,  LATIN  AMERICAN. 

Attitude  of  Toward  American  Goods 218 

CONVENTIONS. 

Patents    235 

Trade-marks  235 

CO-OPERATION. 

Central  House  as  Basis  of  Plan  for 216 

Efficiency  of. 215 

Pan  American  Union 264,  265 

CORN. 

Argentine   Republic 43 

COSTA  RICA. 

Address  of  Costa  Rican  Minister,  Joaquin  B.  Calvo 16 

Commercial  Chart   100 

Currency  of 18 

Exports  and  Imports  of 18,  168 

Government   of 17 

COTTON. 

See  Haiti 76,  77 

COTTONS,  MANUFACTURED. 

Brands    on 172 

Comparative   Production  of 172 

Exports   of 172 

Freight  Rates  on 169,  172 

Latin    America 168 

Relation  of  Packing  to  Rates  on 172 

United  States'  Share  in  Venezuelan  and  Colombian  Markets  on 34 

COTTONSEED  OIL. 

Factories  of  in  Brazil 129 

CREDITS. 

Development  and  Protection  of 174,  176 

England  175 

Extension  of  in  Relation  to  American  Banking  Customs 189 

Germany    175 

Influence  of  Upon  Loss  of  Trade 132,  133 

Length  of  Extension  of 175,  176 

Necessity  for  Extension  of 99,  125,  203,  268,  271,  273,  274 

Policy  of  American  Manufacturers  Toward *. 24 

Policy  of  European  Manufacturers  Toward 33 

Proportion  of  to  Capital  Invested  in  Argentine  Republic 203 

South   America 113 


CUBA. 

Address  of  Vice  Consul  of  Cuba,  Cesar  A.  Barranco 102 

Code  of 65 

Commercial  Chart    no 

Exports  of  to  United  States IO2 

Imports    of 62,  103,  168 

Means  of  Increasing  Trade  in 63,    64 

Postal  Service  of : 64 

Suspension  of  Payments  in 65 

Tax  on  Commercial  Travelers  in 64 

Topography,  Climate,  Products  and  General  Characteristics  of 253 

Transportation  Lines  of  with  Haiti 77 

CURT,  Louis  S 103,  241 

CURRENCY. 

Argentine  Republic 44 

Chile  146 

Costa   Rica 18 

Haiti  78 

CURRIER,  REV.  CHARLES  WARREN 228 

CURTIS,  WILLIAM  E. 

Early  Work  of  in  Interest  of  Pan  -Americanism 228,  229 

D 

DANIELS,  LORENZO,  of  Lamport  &  Holt  Line 56 

DARLING,  JOSEPH   287 

DAVIS,  GEN.  GEORGE  W 229 

DAVIS,  MACK  H 262 

DE  ARMAS,  AURELIO 172,  234 

DELEGATES,  LIST  OF 293 

DEPARTMENT  OF  COMMERCE  AND  LABOR. 

Work  of 25,  149,  151,  202 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  PAN  AMERICAN  UNION 5 

DEEDS,   EDWARD   A 37,  231 

DICKINSON,  WILLIAM  N 243 

DIPLOMATIC  SERVICE. 

Development    of 24 

Foreign    Service 89 

DIRECTORY. 

Latin    America 86 

DIRECTORY,  WORLD  TRADE 147 

DOMINICAN  REPUBLIC. 

Commerce   of  with   United    States 260,  261 

Commercial  Chart 120 

Exports    of 259,  260 

Future    in 253 

Imports    of 168,  259,  260 

Paper  of  the  Minister  from  Dominican  Republic,  Emilio  C.  Joubert 259 

Population  of 260,  261 

Public  Lands  of 260 

Topography,  Climate,  Products  and  General  Characteristics  of 259 

Trade  of  with  United  States 206,  261 

DONALDSON,  C.  R.,  of  the  Bureau  of  Manufactures,  Dept.  of  Com.  and  Labor...  147 

DOWNS,  W.   C 198,  199,  201,  225 

DUTIES. 

Samples  59 


E 

ECUADOR. 

Address  of  Ecuadorian  Minister,  Rafael  M.  Arizaga 67 

Commercial  Chart    •  •  •   130 

Exports  of °9,     71 

Ice  Plants  in  72 

Imports  of  Cotton  Goods  to 168 

Influence  Upon  of  Panama  Canal 67,    68 

Market  for  Plumbers'  Supplies  in. 73 

Opportunities  in  for  Developing  Fruit  Trade 71 

Railways  in :  * : '  * ' ' ' 2O>     ?2 

Topography,  Climate,  Products  and  General  Characteristics  of 19,  67, 

68,  69,  71,  72,    73 

EDER,  PHANOR  J 65,  38,  106,  108,  109 

EDUCATION. 

Latin  America 189,  255 

Necessity  for  Commercial  Training 244 

Peru   253 

ELECTRICAL  DEVELOPMENTS. 

Colombia   108,  109 

Haiti  77 

Progress  of 46,    47 

Uruguay  126 

ENGINES. 

Market  for  in  Argentine  Republic 47,  161 

Market  for  in  Venezuela 38 

ENGLAND. 

Exports  of 141,  156 

Extension  of  Credit  by 175 

ENRIGHT,  F.  C 59,  61,  158,  159,  189 

EMBASSIES,  AMERICAN. 

Quarters  for 194,  195 

ESMERALDAS. 

Ecuador  67,  68 

EXCHANGE. 

Banks  224 

Competition  of 225 

Fluctuations  of  in  Chile 182 

Haiti 78 

Relation  of  Coinage  Value  to 224 

South  America 224,  225 

EXHIBITION. 

Panama 99 

EXPORTS. 

Argentine  Republic 42,  43 

Central  America 83,  84 

Costa  Rica 18,  168 

Dominican  Republic 259,  260 

Ecuador 69,  71 

England 141,  156 

Germany    141,  156 

Insurance 158 

Latin  America 138,  139,  141,  168,  270 

Mexico 243,  282 

Nicaragua   74,  76 

Paraguay 286 

South  America 83 

United  States .' '.'.23,  62,'  63,  75,  103,  138,  141,  283 

Uruguay  119 

EXPORTING. 

American  Methods  of 23 


FACTORIES. 

Cottonseed  Oil 129 

FAILURES. 

Argentine  Republic 204 

Uruguay  125 

FARQUHAR,  A.  B 175,  270 

FARRELL,  J.  A.,  President  of  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation 22 

FERTILIZERS. 

Nitrate  277,  278 

FLAX. 

Argentine  Republic  43 

FOREIGN  SERVICE. 

American 89,  91,  92,  276,  277 

Brazil 133 

FORTESCUE,  CAPT.  G.  R 64,  65,  243 

FOWLER,  J.  R,  of  W.  R..  Grace  &  Co. . . 179,  182,  183,  211,  224 

FRENCH. 

Haiti  136 

Need  for  Instruction  in 55 

FRUIT. 

Ecuador    71 

G 

GALLINGER  AMENDMENT. 

Features  of 87 

GARCIA,  REAR  ADMIRAL  M.  DOMECQ 201 

GERMANY. 

Exports  of  to  Latin  America .141,  156 

Merchant  Marine  of 193 

Methods  of  Catering  to  South  American  Markets 113,  175 

GOAT  SKINS. 

Haiti  76 

GOODS,  AMERICAN. 

Place  of  in  Competition 126 

GORHAM,  REGINALD   i57>  J58,  211 

GRAVES,  HON.  JOHN  TEMPLE 246 

GREEN,  ALFREDO  METZ,  Consul  of  Uruguay,  in  New  York 124,  126 

GREEN,  C.  A.,  of  R.  G.  Dun  &  Co 173,  i?S,  T76 

GUATEMALA. 

Commercial  Chart    , 140 

Immigration  Laws  of 262 

Imports  of  Cotton  Goods  to « 168 

Market  of 261 

Paper  of  Charge  d'Affaires  from  Guatemala,  Ramon  Bengoechea 261 

Safety  of  Investments  in 262 

Shipping  Facilities  of 262 

Topography,  Climate,  Products  and  General  Characteristics  of 262 

GUAYAQUIL. 

Ecuador  67,    68 

GUERRA,  A.  DIAZ 106 

GUIANA. 

Parcels  Post  Arrangement  with 226 

317 


H 

Address  of  Haitian  Minister,  H.  Pauleus  Sannon 74 

Advertising  in 7& 

American  Investments  in 76 

Commercial  Chart    XSO 

Commercial  Relations  of  with  United  States 74,  75,  76 

Commission  Houses  in 78 

Currency  of 

Electrical  Developments  in 77 

Exports  of 75,  76 

Future  of 253 

Imports  of 75,  I08 

Influence  of  Panama  Canal  Upon 74 

Language  of T36 

Market  in  for  Manufactured  Cottons 77 

Railways  in 77 

Salt  Mines  of 77 

Sanitation  and  Health  of 78 

Topography,  Climate,  Products  and  General  Characteristics  of 74 

Trade  of  with  United  States 74,  75,  76 

HALE,  ALBERT  78,  99,  101,  243 

HARBORS. 

Montevideo  and  Valparaiso 253 

Relation  of  to  Panama  Canal 134 

HARBOR  FACILITIES. 

Panama  Canal  144*  T7i 

HARDWARE. 

Market  for  in  Brazil 129 

HAY. 

Packing 158 

HONDURAS. 

Commercial  Chart   160 

Imports  of  Cotton  Goods  to 168 

Paper  of  Consul  General  of  Honduras,  Guillermo  Moncada 290 

HONEY. 

Haiti  76 

HYDRAULIC  POWER. 

Colombia  108 

I 

ICE  PLANTS. 

Ecuador  72 

IMMIGRATION. 

Guatemala  262 

IMPORTS. 

Costa  Rica 18,  168 

Cuba 62,  103,  168 

Dominican   Republic 168,  259,  260 

Haiti    75,  168 

Latin  America 138,  139,  141,  168,  270 

Mexico 168,  281,  282 

Paraguay   168,  286 

South   America 83 

United    States 23,  63,  75,  76,  83,  84,  102,  119,  171,  243,  262 

INSTRUCTIONS  FOR  GUIDANCE  OF  DELEGATES 6,      7 

INSURANCE. 

On  Exports 158 

Steamships    55 


INVESTMENTS. 

Argentine  Republic 122,  156 

Brazil   117,  122,  131 

Chile  122 

Colombia 225 

Guatemala 262 

Haiti  76 

Latin  America 254 

Mexico 253,  280,  281 

Peru 39,    40 

South  America 144 

Uruguay 121,  122 

J 

JANES,  HENRY  L.,  Division  of  Latin  American  Affairs,  State  Department. . .  .144,  147 

JAPAN. 

Merchant  Marine  of 193 

Plans  of  in  Relation  to  Panama  Canal 177 

Subsidies   Paid  by 177 

Toyo  Kisen  Kaisha  Line 183 

JOHNSTON,  FRANKLIN,  Editor  of  American  Exporter 103,  105 

JOUBERT,  EMILIO  C,  Minister  from  the  Dominican  Republic 259 

K 

KAHN,  HON.  JULIUS,  of  California 244 

KELEHER,  A.  H 205,    61 

KELLIER,  EDWARD  F 101 

KIMBALL,  L.   A 81,  274 

KINSOLVING,  RT.  REV.  LUCIEN  LEE,  Bishop  of  the  Brazilian  Epis.  Ch 114,  126,  173 

KNOX,  HON.  PHILANDER  C.,  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States 15 

KRAUSZ,    S f 205 

L 

LABELS. 

Regulations  Governing 214 

LA  LANNE,  FRANK 37 

LAMPORT  &  HOLT  LINE. 

To  South  America 105,  106 

LANDS. 

Dominican  Republic 260 

Porto  Rico  103 

LANGUAGE. 

Necessity  for  Understanding : 269 

LARD. 

Argentine  Republic 43 

LATIN  AMERICA. 

Banks  in 223 

Civic  Expenditures  in 255 

Countries  and  Peoples;  Languages  and  Customs  of 154?  I55>  252>  253> 

254,  255,  256,  270,  287,  288,  289 

Demands  of  Cotton  Goods  Market  in 169 

Development  of  Medicine  and  Pharmacy  in 212,  213 

Development  of  Trade  in 23,  217,  218 

Directory  of 86 

Educational  Facilities  and  Tendencies  of 189,  255 

Imports  and  Exports  of 138,  139,  141,  l68>  270 


Looms  in I^9 

Markets  in 187,  188 

Modes  and  Conveniences  of  Travel  to 57 

Necessity  of  Understanding  Conditions  in 154 

Necessity  of  Visits  to 55>  5&>  173 

Newspapers  and  Advertising  in 216,  217,  255 

Opportunities  in   • 229 

Political  Disturbances  in 66 

Safety  of  Investments  in 254 

Share  of  in  Total  Export  and  Import  Trade  of  United  States 142 

*      Spindles  in 169 

Tariffs  of 83,  84,  153,  207,  239,  241 

LAY,  JULIUS  G.,  Consul  General  in  Rio  de  Janeiro 129,  133 

LEATHER. 

Growth  of  Industry  of 283 

LEAO,  FRANCISCO  GARCIA  PEREIRA,  Brazilian  Vice  Consul,  New  York 113 

LEWIS,  HARRISON  C 215 

LIGHTERAGE. 

Charges  of  169,  171,  182 

LlNDEM AN,  D 36 

LINDSAY,  FORBES  61,  62,  159,  217,  239 

LIST  OF  OFFICIALS,  AUTHORITIES  AND  EXPERTS  WHO  ADDRESSED  CONFERENCE..  .8,      9 

LOCOMOTIVES. 

Argentine  Republic 161 

LOG  WOOD. 

Haiti  76 

LOOMIS,  FRANCIS,  Former  Assistant  Secretary  of  State 96,  98 

LOOMS. 

Latin  America 169 

LUMBER. 

Argentine  Republic 161 

• 
M 

MACHINERY. 

Argentine  Republic 136 

Brazil 131 

Uruguay 161 

MACHINERY  AND  MACHINE  TOOLS. 

Venezuela   36 

MACHINERY,  AMERICAN. 

Finish  of 181 

MADEIRA-MAMORE  RAILWAY. 

Relation  of  to  Commerce  Through  Panama  Canal 134 

Time  Required  for  Completion  of 135,  136 

MAGUEY. 

Haiti    76 

MAHOGANY. 

Haiti  76 

MAILS. 

Improvement  in  Service  of 265 

Panama 226,  227 

Postage  on  231 

MANUFACTURERS,  AMERICAN. 

Attitude  of  in  Development  of  Latin  American  Trade 217,  218,  276 

Ignorance  of  Concerning  Conditions  of  Brazilian  Trade 270 

Integrity  of    126 

Methods  of  187,  188 

320 


MANTA. 

Ecuador    67,    68 

MANNING,  ISAAC  A.,  United  States  Consul  at  La  Guaira,  Venezuela 30,  35, 

36,  37,  38,  79,  81,  108,  109,  211,  224,  229 

MARCAL,  JOSE   270 

MARKETS. 

How  to  Extend. . . . 44,  45,  55,  195,  196,  203 

Necessity  for  Studying 218 

Necessity  of  Conforming  to  Demands  of 45 

Necessity  of  Information  on 203 

MARTIN,  MAHLON  C,  JR 109 

MAYO,  CAS  WELL  A.,  Editor  of  Revista  Americana  d  Farmacia  Medicina 212,  106 

MEDICINE  AND  PHARMACY. 

Latin  America 212 

MERCANTILE  AGENCY. 

Establishment  of 174,  175 

MERCHANT  MARINE. 

Germany   193 

Japan    193 

Necessity  of   53,  54,  193,  194,  201,  202 

Subsidies  , 193 

MERCHANTS  (SOUTH  AMERICAN). 

Attitude  of  Toward  American  Manufacturers 103 

Business  Methods  of 23,  156 

Characteristics  of   32,  125 

Preferences  of  for  Markets 105 

METERS. 

Argentine  Republic 46 

Peru 46 

MEXICO. 

Address  of  Former  Mexican  Ambassador,  Joaquin  D.  Casasus 21 

American  Banks  and  Investments  in 253,  280,  281 

Commercial  Chart   170 

Exports  of 243,  282 

Extension  of  Credit  in 280 

Freight  Rates  to  from  United  States 281 

Geography,  History  and  Commerce  of 243 

Imports  of 168,  281,  282 

Paper  of  Mexican  Consul  General,  Cayetano  Romero 278 

Shipping  Facilities  of 281 

Tariff  Regulations  of 280 

Trade  of  with  the  United  States 278 

MILES,  BASIL  225 

MILLS. 

Argentine  Republic 47 

MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY. 

Panama  Canal 176 

Trade  of  177 

MONEY. 

Standardization  of  224 

MONROE  DOCTRINE. 

Benefits  from 54 

Influence  of 177 

MONTEVIDEO. 

Harbors  of 253 

MONTGOMERY,  W.  B 224,  72,    73 

MOREIRA,  M.  DE 117,  265 

MUTTON. 

Argentine  Republic 43 

MYERS,  WILLIAM  S 277 

321 


N 

NABUCO,  JOAQUIN. 

Services  of  to  Pan  Americanism 15 

NATIONAL  ASSOCIATION  OF  MANUFACTURERS. 

Organization  and  Development  of 237,  238 

NATIONAL  CASH  REGISTER  Co. 

Methods  of  in  Developing  South  American  Trade 231,  232.  233,  234 

NEWELL,  R  H 2I9>  221 

NEWSPAPERS. 

Chile  J47 

Colombia •  •  •  • 35 

Difficulty  of  Establishing  Service  for  in  Latin  America 242 

Latin  America 216,  217,  265 

Venezuela   • 35 

NICARAGUA. 

Address  of  Nicaraguan  Minister,  Salvador  Castnllo 73 

Commercial  Chart   180 

Exports  of 74>    ! 

Imports  of  Cotton  Goods  to 168 

Method  of  Extending  United  States  Trade  in 78 

Products  and  General  Characteristics  of 73,    74 

NITRATE. 

Chile  277,  278 

NIXON,  LEWIS,  United  States  Delegate  Fourth  Pan  American  Conference 51 

NOEL,  JOHN  VAVASOUR 46,  47,  224,  242 

O 

OLT,  JOHN  A 224 

OSBORNE,  JOHN  BALL,  Chief  of  Bureau  of  Trade  Relations,  Dept.  of  State.. 81, 

86,  87,  88 


PACKING. 

Bottles 158 

Demands  of 118,  279,  280 

Improvements  in 99 

Marking  of 157,  158 

Necessity  for  Following  Instructions  Concerning 124,  285 

Of  Goods  Arriving  in  Colombia 36 

Of  Goods  Arriving  in  Venezuela 36 

Porcelain 157 

Relation  of  to  Destination  of  Goods 243 

Survey   89 

Uses  of  Straw  and  Hay  in 158 

Waterproof  Features  of 158 

PANAMA. 

Address  of  Panaman  Minister,  Belisario  Porras 98 

Cattle  Interests  in 102 

Commercial  Chart   190 

Extension  of  Trade  of  with  United  States 09 

General  Features  of ,- 98,    99 

Imports  of  Cotton  Goods  to 168 

National  Bank  of 99 

Need  of  American  Exhibition  in 99 

Railways  in 99 

Steamship  Lines  to 99 

Tariff  of  207 

Trade  of  with  United  States 99 

Truck  Farming  in , JQI 

United  States  Mail  Service  with 226,  227 

322 


PANAMA  CANAL. 

As  Free  Highway  for  American  Ships ^ 54 

Attitude  of  Japan  Toward. 96,  177 

Effect  of  on  Harbor  Facilities 171 

Effect  of  Upon  Panama 101,  102 

General  Features  of. 93,    95 

Lines  of  Transportation  Through 94 

Necessity  of  Dependable  Sailing  Dates  in  Connection  with 177,  178 

Necessity  of  Getting  Ready  for 251 

Need  of  Terminals  for 94 

Tolls  of 184,  185 

Tonnage  Through 185 

Trade  Benefits  of ..  16,  20,  21,  23,  93,  101,  102,  133,  134,  154,  176,  177,  184,  251 
Trade  Routes  Through 183,  184 

PANAMA-PACIFIC  EXPOSITION 159,  186,  245 

'PANAMA  RAILROAD. 

Rates  on 99 

PAN  AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  CONFERENCE. 

Attendance  at 14 

Congratulations  of  to  Senator  Elihu  Root 112 

Harmony  in IQI,  192 

Importance  of 234,  237,  242 

Object  of 14,  15,  27,  66 

Probability  of  Holding  Another  Year 246 

PAN  AMERICAN  RAILWAY. 

Development  of 96,  97,    98 

Possibilities  of 16 

PAN  AMERICAN  UNION. 

Early  Development  of 19 

Efforts  of  to  Establish  Pan  American  Co-operation 264,  265 

Home  of 26,    27 

Influence  of  in  Promoting  Peace. . .  ; 26,    27 

Mission  of 22 

Publication  of  Tariffs  by 152 

Work  of 24,  114,  163,  164,  219,  252,  256,  257 

PAN  AMERICAN  UNION  BULLETIN. 

Features  of 61 

PAN  AMERICANISM. 

Principle  of 261 

PARAGUAY. 

Commercial  Chart   200 

Exports  of 286 

Imports  of  Cotton  Goods  to 168,  286 

Need  of  Agricultural  Implements  in 239 

Paper  of  Consul  General,  Clifford  S.  Walton 286 

Railroads  in  239 

Topography,  Climate,  Products  and  General  Characteristics  of....  19,  286,  287 

PARCELS  POST. 

Chile 146 

Brazil 225 

Development  of 226 

Rates  of  on  Samples 226 

Registration  of  Packages  Under 226 

United  States  88,     119 

PAKDO,  FELIPE,  Minister  from  Peru 38 

PATFNTS. 

International  Conventions  Concerning 235 

PAYMENTS. 

Cuba  65 

Methods  of l?3 

323 


PEANUTS. 

Haiti  76 

PECK,  Miss  ANNIE  S 224>  225 

PEPPER,  CHARLES  M.,  of  Bureau  of  Trade  Relations,  State  Department.  .133,  135,  136 

PERU. 

Address  of  Peruvian  Minister,  Filipe  Pardo 30 

Banks  of 39 

Coal  Supply  of ••  •  4g 

.        Commerce  of 39,  83,  1 88 

Commercial  Chart   2I° 

Educational  Facilities  in 253 

Effects  of  Panama  Canal  Upon  Commerce  of 41 

European  Competition  in 39 

Imports  of  Cotton  Goods  to 168 

Market  in  for  Steel  Products 46,  47. 

Meters  in 46 

Need  of  Investment  of  United  States  Capital  in 39,  40 

Railways  in   20 

Relation  of  Tariff  of  to  Reciprocity  Agreement  with  United  States 40 

Relation  of  United  States  Tariff  to  Exports  of 40 

Tariff  of •. 209 

Topography,  Climate,  Products  and  General  Characteristics  of 19 

Trade  of  with  United  States 83,  188 

Wagon  Roads  in 136 

PETERS,  JAMES   W.   S 245,  211 

PHILADELPHIA  COMMERCIAL  MUSEUM. 

History  of 164,  165 

PIANOS. 

Effect  of  Climate  Upon 37,    38 

PLUMBERS'  SUPPLIES. 

Ecuador 73 

POLITICAL  DISTURBANCES. 

Latin  America  66 

Venezuela 66 

POPE,  CHARLES   A 79 

POPULATION. 

Proportion  of  to  Western  Hemisphere 26 

Relation  of  to  Cotton  Goods  Market  in  Latin  America 171 

Relation  of  to  Languages 144,  145 

PORCELAIN. 

Packing  of 157 

PORCH,  JAMES  W 176 

PORTO  Rico. 

Commercial  Relations  of  with  United  States 241 

Price  of  Tobacco  in 103 

Products  of 103 

Value  of  Tobacco  Lands  in 103 

PORTUGUESE. 

Advertising  in 117 

Brazil 136 

Necessity  for  Instruction  in 55 

PORRAS,  BELISARIO,  Minister  from  Panama 98 

PRINTING  PRESSES. 

Colombia  35 

Venezuela 35 

PRODUCTS  (AMERICAN). 

Argentine  Republic  156 

Brazil   115 

South  America  125 

324 


PRODUCTION. 

Potentiality  of I22 

Relation  of  to  Consumption  in  United  States 22,     27 

PROGRAM  OF  CONFERENCE IO,  n,  12,     13 

PURDIE,  FRANCIS  B., 202,  204,  205,  206 

R 

RAILWAYS. 

Argentine    Republic 136 

Bolivia    20 

Brazil 1 18,  129 

Chile 20 

Development  of 16 

Ecuador  72 

Haiti   77 

Influence  of  Upon  Panama  Canal 134 

In  Uruguay  121,  122 

Panama    99 

Paraguay 239 

Peru    ; 20 

RAPOSO,  Louis   59,  105,  1 18,  128,  137,  272 

RATES,  FREIGHT. 

Exemption  of 177 

RATES,  SPECIAL  122 

RATES. 

Competition    87 

Cottons,  Manufactured 169 

Necessity  of  Determining 118 

Panama  Railroad 99 

RECIPROCITY. 

Argentine  Republic   '42 

As  Basis  of  Agreements  with  all  Parts  of  World 27 

As  Basis  of  Commercial  Policy  of  Western  Hemisphere 15,  25 

Banking  223 

Benefits   of    82,  83,  86,  182 

Brazil   54 

Relation  of  to  Peruvian  Tariff 40 

RECLAMATION  BUREAU. 

Work  of  219,  221 

REFINERIES. 

Sugar  Refineries  95>  96,  129 

REMITTANCES. 

Methods    of    Handling 64 

RESOLUTIONS. 

Concerning  Director  General  Barrett 227 

Concerning  Members  of  Governing  Board  of  Pan  American  Union 229 

Concerning  Washington  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Board  of  Trade 128 

REVOLUTIONS. 

South  America 145 

RICHLING,  JOSE,  Consul  General  of  Uruguay,  in  New  York 121 

RICCI,  Louis  D 236 

Rio  DE  JANEIRO. 

Expenditures  by  for  Civic  Improvements 253 

Population  of 253 

ROADS,  WAGON. 

Peru    136 

Venezuela    136 

ROBINSON,  A.  G.,  of  the  New  York  Sun 62,  64,    65 

325 


ROJAS,  P.  EZEQUIEL,  Minister  from  Venezuela 66 

ROVVE.  DR.  L.  S.,  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 187 

ROOT,  SENATOR  ELIHU,  of  New  York 195 

ROOT,  SENATOR  ELIHU. 

Congratulations  of  Conference  to 112 

Message  of  for  Pan  America 19 

Services  of  to  Pan  American  Union 21 

Speech  of  in  Kansas  City r43 

Work  of  for  Pan  American  Comity 256,  257 

RUTTER    FRANK  R.,  of  the  Bureau  of  Manufactures,  Department  of  Commerce 

and  "Labor   207,  153 

S 

', 

SALESMEN. 

Conditions   Encountered  by 288 

Expenses  of J35 

Necessity  of  Visiting  Smaller  Towns 239 

Selection  of  126,  127,  231,  233,  235,  272,  274,  285 

Uruguay    161 

SALVADOR. 

Commercial  Chart    220 

Imports  of  Cotton  Goods  to 168 

Population,  Topography  and  Products  of 289,  290 

Tariff  of 207,  208 

Transportation  Facilities  of 289,  290 

SALT. 

Haiti    77 

SAMPLES. 

Argentine  Republic   59 

Brazil 59 

Duties  on 59 

Methods   of   Introducing 106 

Regulations  Regarding  Admitting  of 213,  214 

Treatment  of  87 

SAN  FRANCISCO. 

Panama- Pacific   Exposition   in 186,  245 

Rebuilding  of  185,  186,  244,  245 

SANITATION. 

Ecuador 72,    73 

Haiti  78 

SANTAMARINA,  J.  P.,  of  Buenos  Aires,  Argentina 43,  47,  48,  49,  50,  127,  137 

SANNON,  H.  PAULEUS,  Minister  from  Haiti 74 

SCHOOLS. 

Chile  228 

Brazil   126 

SEGOVIA,  D.  M 239 

SEWING  MACHINES. 

Argentine  Republit 47 

Bolivia  51 

SHEPHERD,  WILLIAM  R.,  Secretary  United  States  Delegation,  Fourth  Pan  Ameri- 
can Conference    109,  1 13 

SHIPMENTS. 

Necessity  of  Complying  with  Instructions  Concerning 275,  276 

SHIPS  AND  SHIPPING. 

Advantages  of  England  over  United  States 203 

Brazil   178 

Competition  87 

Facilities  of 182 

326 


Gallinger  Amendment „ 

Improvements  in 

Lamport  &  Holt  Line 105,  106 

Panama 99 

Proposed  Line  to  Brazil 178,  179 

Relation  of  to  Tariff  in  Influence  Upon  Trade .'  87 

STEAMSHIPS,  AMERICAN. 

Demand    for 16,  23,  27,  40,  41,  44,  49,  50,  54,  73,  93,  122, 

131,  177,  192,  193,  234,  263,  264 

Insurance  Upon 55 

Manning  of 179 

Panama  Canal  54 

STUTESMAN,  J.  B 234 

SHOOKS. 

Argentine  Republic    161 

SOUTH  AMERICA. 

American  Enterprise  in  Building  Railroads  in 243 

American  Exchange  in 224,  225 

Appreciation  in  of  American  Products 125 

Commerce  of 20 

Competition  in  Trade  of .' • .  125 

Exports  and  Imports  of 83 

Field  in  for  Associated   Press 112 

Foreign    Banks    in 20 

Foreign  Investments  in 144 

General   Features  of 19 

Geography  of   134,  135 

Per  Cent,  of  Loss  of  Trade  of 175 

Revolutions  in  145 

System  of  Credits  in 113 

Tariffs  of   61 

Trade  of  with  United  States 88 

SPANISH. 

Catalogues  in  127 

Influence  of  Upon  American  Education 229,  231 

Translations    79 

Value  of  as  Commercial  Language 34,  45,  55,  135,  136,  201,  244 

SPINDLES. 

Latin  America 169 

STEEL. 

Exports  of 24 

Imports   of  to   Brazil 129 

STEEL  PRODUCTS. 

Argentine  Republic   48,  49>  161 

Peru 46,    47 

STRAW. 

Packing    158 

SUBSIDIES. 

Difficulty  in   Securing  Legislation   Providing  for 196,  197 

Necessity  of    IQ3.  233 

Japan    177 

SUEZ  CANAL. 

Effect  of  Upon  English  Commerce 52 

Lesson  of  for  United  States 52 

SUGAR  REFINERIES. 

Facilities  for  Establishment  of  in  Canal  Zone 95>    9" 

Brazil   129 

327 


TAFT,  WILLIAM  HOWARD,  President  of  the  United  States 26 

TALLOW  AND  STEARINE. 

Argentine  Republic   43 

TARIFF. 

Brazil IQ5>  1 15 

Chile  •  •  •    T45 

Colombia    6l>    62 

Complaints  Resulting  from 86 

Latin  American    (General) 239,  241 

Necessity   for   Modifications   in 4°,     7i 

Necessity  of  Reduction  of  on  Products  of  Argentina 42 

On  Latin  American   Imports 86,    87 

Pan    American    Union i52 

Proposed   Simplification   of 208,  209 

Publication  of  for  World 152,  153 

South  America   W 

United  States I1S 

Uruguay    II9 

Venezuela 61,     62 

Weights  and  Measures , 61 

TAXES. 

Argentine  Republic 59 

Brazil 59,  61 

Cuba  64 

TEHAUNTEPEC. 

Trade  Over 52 

TERMINALS. 

Panama  Canal  94 

TIMBER. 

Colombia  108 

TOBACCO. 

Porto  Rico  103 

TOURISTS. 

Accommodations  for  57 

TOYO  KISEN  KAISHA  LINE. 

Development  of 183 

TRADE. 

Argentine  Republic    •. . .  204 

Chile  145 

Decrease  of — See  United  States  and  Brazil 173 

Generalizations  of 121 

Latin  America  141 

Nicaragua   78 

Panama   99 

Peru 39 

Prej  udices   Concerning    109,  1 1 1 

Requisites  to  Development  of 56,  124,  173,  233,  236,  239,  284,  285,  286 

South  America  88,  175 

Tehauntepec   52 

United  States 84,  99,  123 

TRADE  EXCURSION. 

Opportunity  for 242 

TRADE  MARKS. 

Argentine  Republic  59,  204 

International  Conventions  Concerning 235 

Protection  of  Rights  Under 55,  213 

Systems  of  235 

328 


TRANSLATIONS. 

Advertising  in   Portuguese  ..........................................  79,    gi 

Advertising  in  Spanish  ..............................................  7pj    81 

TRANSPORTATION. 

Bolivia   ...............................................................     98 


57,  133 
Cuba   .................................................................     77 

General   Features   of  ...................  c6     c7 

TT       •     "  *    "  d      9          Of 

Haiti  .................................................................     77 

Japan    ...............  .................................................  177 

Necessity  for  Developing  ...................................  ........  71,  285 

Panama  Canal  ..................................................  ....  94,  177 

Tourists    ...........................................................  57,    58 

TRAZIVUK,   MARCOS  J  ................................................  156,  157,  158 

U 

UNITED  STATES. 

Commercial  Chart   ..............  .......................................  230 

Competition    Experienced    by    in    Import    and    Export    Trade    of    Latin 
America  ................................................  84,  85,  139,  168 

Exports  of  ..................................  23,  62,  63,  75,  103,  138,  141,  283 

General  Features  of  Export  and  Import  Trade  of  with  Latin  America.  .  138,  139 
Imports  of  .  .  .........  .  ..........  23,  63,  75,  76,  83,  84,  102,  119,  171,  243,  262 

Latin  American  Share  in  Total  Import  and  Export  Trade  of  ............  142 

Markets  of  for  Latin  American  Products  ................................  262 

Methods  of  Extending  Trade  of  in  Latin  America  ...............  in,  112,  123 

Parcels  Post  Arrangement  with  Brazil  ..................................   119 

Parcels  Post  Arrangement  with  Chile  ...................................  146 

Parcels  Post  System  of  ................................................     88 

Tariff  of  on  Latin  American  Products  ....................  83,  84,  95,  262,  263 

Trade  of  with  Argentine  Republic  .........  42,  83,  156,  161,  162,  188,  192,  203 

Trade  of  with  Brazil  .....................................  23,  54,  83,  88,  114 

,  115,  116,  117,  131,  173.  188,  265,  266,  267 
Trade   of   with    Brazil  .............  23,  54,  83,  88,  114,  115,  116,  117,  131, 

173,  188,  265,  266,  267 
Trade  of  with  Colombia  .............................................  33,    83 

Trade  of  with  Dominican  Republic  ..................................  260,  261 

Trade  of  with  Haiti  ...............................................  74,  75,    76 

Trade  of  with  Mexico  ..................................................  278 

Trade  of  with  Panama  .................................................     99 

Trade  of  with  Peru  .................................................  83,  188 

Trade  of  with  South  America  ..........................................     88 

Trade  of  with  Venezeuia  ............................................  33,    83 

Treatment  of  by  Latin  America  with  Respect  to  Tariffs  ..................   153 

Use  of  Nitrate  on  Soils  of  and  Comparison  of  Yields  per  Acre  ............  277 

URUGUAY. 

Address  of  Consul  General,  Jose  Richling  ...........  ...................   121 

Commercial  Chart   ....................................................  240 

Demands  of  Market  in  .................................................   161 

Electrical  Development  in  ..............................................   126 

Exports  to  the  United  States  ...........................................  119 

Failures   in  ............................................................   125 

Imports  of  Cotton  Goods  to  ............................................   168 

Investments  in  ....................................................  121,  122 

Market  in  for  American  Machinery  ....................................   161 

Need  of  American  Salesmen  in  .........................................  161 

Railways   in  ........................................................  121,  122 

Tariff  of  ...........................................................  119,  208 

Topography,  Climate,  Products  and  General  Characteristics  of  .........  19,  121 

329 


VALPARAISO. 

Harbor  of    253 

VENEZUELA. 

Address  of  Venezuelan  Minister,  P.  Ezequiel  Rojas 66 

Advertising  in 79 

Agricultural  Implements  Used  in 31,    32 

Commercial  Chart   • 249 

*       Illiteracy  in 35 

Imports  of  Cotton  Goods  to 168 

Markets  of 34,  35,  36,    38 

Newspapers  in 35 

Packing  of  Goods  Arriving  in 36 

Political  Disturbances  in 66 

Proportion  of  American  to  European  Business  Representatives  in 33,    34 

Tariffs  of 61,  62,  207,  211 

Topography,  Climate,  Products  and  General  Characteristics  of.  .19,  30,  31, 

32,  66,    67 

Trade  of  With  United  States 33,    83 

Wagon  Roads  in 136 

VILLEGAS,  JACINTO  L.,  Charge  D'Affaires  of  Argentina 41 

VOTE  OF  THANKS. 

To  Staff  of  Pan  American  Union 245 


W 

WALTON,   CLIFFORD   S 286 

WEAVING  MILLS. 

Brazil   129 

WEIGHTS  AND  MEASURES. 

Necessity  for  Change  in  System  of 55,  118 

Relation  of  to  Tariff  Duties 61 

WELLS,  W.  C 61,  152,  239 

WHEAT. 

Argentine  Republic 43 

WHITE,  HENRY,  Chairman  of  U.  S.  Delegation  to  Pan  American  Conference, 

Buenos  Aires  191 

WHOLESALE  GROCERIES. 

Colombia  109 

WIBORG,  FRANK  284 

WILSON,  CHARLES  F 179 

WILSON,  HUNTINGTON,  Assistant  Secretary  of  State 88 

WILSON,  DR.  W.  P 227,  167 

WINES. 

Market  for  in  Venezuela  and  Colombia 34,  35 

WORLD  PEACE. 

Evolution  of 247,  248 

Y 

YANES,  FRANCISCO  J.,  Assistant  Director  of  the  Pan  American  Union 154,    6S 

YANES,  FRANCISCO  J. 

Services  of  to  Pan  American  Union 65 

Work  of  for  Pan  America 153 

YOACHAM,  ALBERTO  M.,  Charge  D'Affaires  of  Chile 143 

YOUNGMAN,  E.  H.,  Editor  of  Bankers'  Magazine 221,  223,  224 

330 


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